People dine at the Fushansuo Market in Shinan District of Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, Aug. 7, 2023. (Xinhua/Li Ziheng)

　　BEIJING, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- China's retail sales of consumer goods, a major indicator of the country's consumption strength, maintained stable growth in July, official data showed Tuesday.

　　The retail sales of consumer goods increased by 2.5 percent year on year last month to nearly 3.68 trillion yuan (about 512.22 billion U.S. dollars), according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). In the January-July period, the figure increased 7.3 percent.

　　The consumer market continued to recover and service consumption grew rapidly, the NBS said in a statement.

　　"Domestic demand kept growing," NBS spokesperson Fu Linghui told a press conference Tuesday. "The service consumption, such as summer vacation tourism, picked up markedly, offering significant support for expanding consumption."

　　In July, the catering sector reported a revenue increase of 15.8 percent from a year earlier. In the first seven months, online retail sales gained 12.5 percent and service sales surged 20.3 percent.