BEIJING, May 9 -- China's services trade sustained a sound growth momentum in the first quarter (Q1), with travel services seeing visible recovery, official data showed Tuesday.

The country's services trade totaled 1.58 trillion yuan (about 228.14 billion U.S. dollars) in the first three months, up 8.7 percent year on year, data from the Ministry of Commerce showed.

Services imports stood at over 903.5 billion yuan, rising 21.6 percent from a year ago, while exports shrank 4.7 percent year on year to 680.51 billion yuan in the reporting period, resulting in a deficit of 222.99 billion yuan.

Travel services reported a notable recovery in Q1, as trade in the sector surged 56.6 percent from a year earlier to about 337.63 billion yuan.

Trade in knowledge-intensive services raked in nearly 694.7 billion yuan in Q1, up 12.8 percent year on year, the data showed.

Knowledge-intensive services exports gained 18.7 percent to 415.57 billion yuan, driven by the rapid growth of insurance services, according to the ministry.