Ski enthusiasts are seen at Tianding Mountain Ski Resort in Changchun, northeast China's Jilin Province, on Jan. 25, 2024. Boasting abundant ice and snow resources, Jilin Province in northeast China continues to optimize its tourism service to gain prominence as one of the most popular winter destinations for tourists. (Xinhua/Chen Yehua)

 

The value of China's services trade expanded 10 percent year-on-year to reach 6.575 trillion yuan ($915.6 billion) in 2023, setting a new record high, driven by an uptick in knowledge-intensive and travel service trade, data released by China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) showed on Thursday.

Last year, import of services jumped 24.4 percent year-on-year, while export of services dropped 5.8 percent year-on-year.

A breakdown of the figures showed that China's travel service showed an impressive growth rate of 73.6 percent year-on-year to reach 1.49 trillion yuan last year, with exports surging 59.2 percent and imports gaining 74.7 percent. 

It is expected that the trade in travel service will continue to chug along this year, as Chinese people likely expand visa-free travel to more countries and in return is seeking more countries to reciprocate. 

China and Thailand signed a mutual visa exemption agreement on Sunday in Bangkok, which follows China and Singapore signining a similar agreement on mutual visa exemption last week, which will go effect on February 9. Malaysia has also exempted Chinese citizens from visa requirements.

To date, China has inked mutual visa exemption agreements covering different types of passports with 157 countries, reached agreements or arrangements on simplified visa procedures with 44 countries and enjoyed comprehensive mutual visa exemptions with 23 countries, including Thailand, Singapore, the Maldives and UAE, Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson from China's Foreign Ministry, said on Wednesday.

In addition, trade in knowledge-intensive services recorded rapid expansion last year, led by insurance service export, and personal, cultural and recreational services imports, which soared 67 percent and 61.7 percent year-on-year, respectively. 

In 2023, China's foreign trade is forecasted to grew 0.2 percent year-on-year to 41.76 trillion yuan ($5.87 trillion), a stable growth that adds to an array of positive signs underscoring that the world's second-largest economy is consolidating the recovery momentum despite global volatilities.

Global Times