BEIJING, Aug. 9 -- China's services trade saw rapid growth in the first half of 2024, with a steep increase in the trade of travel-related services, official data showed on Friday.

The country's services trade totaled nearly 3.6 trillion yuan (503.6 billion U.S. dollars) between January and June, up 14 percent year on year, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

Services exports neared 1.5 trillion yuan, up 10.7 percent, and services imports jumped 16.4 percent to over 2.1 trillion yuan, resulting in a deficit of 662.9 billion yuan.

Trade in travel-related services skyrocketed 47.7 percent to surpass 961.7 billion yuan, and trade in knowledge-intensive services rose 3.7 percent to more than 1.4 trillion yuan.