BEIJING, Nov. 15 -- China's service production index went up 7.7 percent year on year in October, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Wednesday.

The growth rate was 0.8 percentage points faster than the September level, it added.

The sub-reading for accommodation and catering surged by 21.3 percent year on year.

The sub-index tracking the performance of transportation, warehousing, and postal services climbed 13.2 percent, while that for the information transmission, software, and IT services expanded 10.9 percent, according to the bureau.

In the first ten months, the service production index increased by 7.9 percent year on year. The combined revenues of major service enterprises rose 7.1 percent year on year in the January-September period.

Spending in the service sector has sustained rapid growth, and the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holiday early last month prompted consumption recovery in tourism and related sectors, according to NBS spokesperson Liu Aihua.

In the first ten months, retail sales of services rose by 19 percent year on year, 0.1 percentage points faster than that of the first nine months.