BEIJING, June 1 -- China's services trade sustained a sound growth momentum in the first four months of 2023, official data showed Thursday.

The country's services trade topped 2.08 trillion yuan (about 293.1 billion U.S. dollars) from January to April, up 9.1 percent year on year, data from the Ministry of Commerce showed.

Trade in knowledge-intensive services expanded 13.1 percent year on year to reach 905.79 billion yuan in the period, the data showed.

The figure accounted for 43.5 percent of the country's total volume of services trade, up 1.5 percentage points from the same period last year.

Travel services saw a notable recovery during the period, with trade in this sector soaring 63.4 percent from a year earlier to 444.19 billion yuan, according to the ministry.