Qingdao's service sector has become a new engine for local economic growth, according to the Qingdao municipal bureau of statistics.

Official data showed that last year the added value of the city's service sector reached 714.86 billion yuan ($101.71 billion), accounting for 60.9 percent of Qingdao's total GDP and contributing 70.4 percent of its economic growth.

Of the 751,000 new urban jobs created in 2019, the service sector accounted for 505,000, an increase of 9.6 percent over the same period in the previous year.

A night view of Qingdao, Shandong province [Photo/VCG]

Statistics showed that in 2019, investment in the service sector in Qingdao increased by 22.7 percent, 15.2 percentage points higher than the previous year and contributing 81.7 percent to the city's growth in investment.

Local authorities said that the service industry has become the largest industry in Qingdao and the main driving force behind its economic growth, indicating that the city has entered a new stage of economic development.

The city's softer service sector is also showing strong growth, with official data indicating that the software and information technology services sector in Qingdao grew by 30.3 percent last year.

The city is now home to more than 1,800 software and information technology service enterprises, and its software sector has grown into a thriving industry with annual revenue of more than 200 billion yuan.  

On Jan 19, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released a list of the top 100 enterprises in China in terms of software revenue in 2019. Haier and Hisense, both based in Qingdao, made the list.

The rapid development of Qingdao's software industry has been recognized nationally, as earlier this year, the city was named a Famous Software City by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Five Qingdao-based companies, including Hisense, CRRC Sifang, and Qingdao Eastsoft Communication Technology, are now among China's top 100 companies in terms of comprehensive competitiveness in software and information technology services.

Qingdao has also been fostering new industries and types of businesses in hopes that they will become another driving force behind local economic development as technology advances, markets evolve, and the government seeks to boost the modern service sector, entrepreneurship, and innovation.