BEIJING, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- China's service trade maintained steady growth in the first three quarters of the year, with total imports and exports reaching nearly 5.94 trillion yuan (about 838 billion U.S. dollars), up 7.6 percent year on year, the Ministry of Commerce said on Tuesday.

Specifically, service exports rose 14.4 percent to over 2.6 trillion yuan, while imports increased 2.8 percent to over 3.33 trillion yuan, according to the ministry's data. The service trade deficit narrowed by 238.24 billion yuan compared to the same period last year.

Knowledge-intensive services saw continued growth in trade, with imports and exports totaling about 2.27 trillion yuan, up 6.4 percent year on year.

Travel service trade totaled nearly 1.64 trillion yuan, up 8.8 percent from a year earlier.

Notably, the exports of travel services surged 54.4 percent during the period, according to the data. ■