China's service sector picks up pace in July

BEIJING, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- China's service sector registered a faster recovery last month as warming domestic demand boosted activity in industries from transportation to culture and sports, official data showed Thursday.

The service production index increased by 4.8 percent year on year in July, quickening by 0.1 percentage points from the previous month, the National Bureau of Statistics said.

A breakdown, the sub-index on information transmission, software and IT services reported the most robust growth of 12.6 percent, followed by 9 percent for leasing and business services and 5.3 percent for transportation, warehousing and postal services. The financial sector index increased by 5.1 percent.

Data also showed multiple industries were at a high level of prosperity, including railway and air transportation, postal services, telecommunication, broadcasting and satellite transmission services, as well as culture, sports and entertainment.

China's service sector has reported vibrant growth since the start of the year as holiday travel booms boosted transportation and hospitality and more measures were rolled out to stimulate service consumption.

Railway passenger trips had exceeded 600 million by Monday since the summer travel rush began on July 1, NBS spokesperson Liu Aihua said.

Earlier this month, the State Council released a guideline to further develop consumer services and meet people's personalized and diverse needs. Efforts will be made to tap the potential of consumption in sectors such as domestic services, elderly care and education and foster new types of consumption like digital, green and health services.