BEIJING -- China's services trade saw steady growth in the first quarter of the year, including a steep increase in the trade of travel-related services, official data showed on Tuesday.

The country's services trade totaled 1.97 trillion yuan ($273.5 billion) during the period, up 8.7 percent year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

Services exports reached 835.15 billion yuan, up 12.2 percent from a year earlier, and services imports rose 6.2 percent to 1.14 trillion yuan, resulting in a deficit of 303.88 billion yuan.

Trade in travel-related services continued robust growth momentum, jumping 21.8 percent year-on-year to reach 584.9 billion yuan, the data showed.

Meanwhile, trade in knowledge-intensive services rose 2.6 percent year-on-year to 752.49 billion yuan.