As part of a broader effort to optimize the nation's trade structure, China's foreign trade is gaining fresh momentum, with services emerging as a new driver of growth, supported by a steady rise in exports of knowledge-intensive services and a surge in inbound tourism, experts said.

Their comments came on the heels of recent data showing that China's services trade deficit shrank in April to its smallest monthly level in over a year.

The deficit in services trade fell to $14.8 billion in April, down nearly 40 percent from $24.3 billion in March, according to data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange. It was the narrowest monthly gap since December 2024.

China is doubling down on services exports, with policymakers having embedded "encouraging and supporting services exports" into the Government Work Report as a key task for this year.

China's services trade has run a persistent deficit for years, due to the country's relative weakness in exporting high-value services, said Zhao Jinping, vice-president of the China Association of Trade in Services.

But the gap is now closing at an accelerating pace, a shift that Zhao said points to "a huge improvement" in the quality of China's services sector supply.

Exports of telecommunications, computer and information services, which covers cloud computing, software development and data processing, have expanded rapidly. The surplus in this category widened to $5.5 billion in April, from $3.1 billion in March, data from the administration showed.

"As the global economy accelerates its digital transformation, China's technological advantages and digital application capabilities are well positioned to translate into a new competitive advantage in global value chains," said Zhu Caihua, a professor at the University of International Business and Economics.

Zhu also noted that China is negotiating or updating free trade agreements with multiple economies to push services and digital trade higher up the agenda.

Beyond knowledge-intensive exports, the travel services balance improved as inbound tourism rebounded, boosted by China's expanded visa-free policy covering 50 countries, and a 240-hour visa-free transit policy for travelers from 55 countries at 65 ports.

Cross-border trips made by foreign nationals increased 26.4 percent year-on-year in 2025 to more than 82 million, according to the National Immigration Administration.

The momentum has continued into 2026. China's travel service exports surged 32.3 percent year-on-year to 105.35 billion yuan ($14.6 billion) in the first quarter of 2026, the fastest growth among all service export categories, data from the Ministry of Commerce showed.

As countries around the world compete to attract travelers, China has emerged as a rising hot spot for global tourists, and policymakers are seizing the moment with a fresh wave of measures designed to facilitate every step of the journey, said Jiang Zhao, an associate researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation.

The government has also streamlined departure tax refunds and improved payment systems, making it easier for overseas tourists to spend in China.

The number of international travelers processing departure tax refunds in China tripled to 270,000 last year, and the value of those refunds for the year alone roughly equaled the cumulative total of the previous decade, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

Travel services are not just an end in themselves, Jiang said, highlighting the inbound tourism push as a testing ground for deeper opening-up in finance, education, healthcare and other relevant services.

wangkeju@chinadaily.com.cn