The Chinese Government will strengthen its support for the services sector to improve it and spur economic growth, Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua reported.

The State Council released a guideline on Sunday saying special attention would be given to the following service industries: health care; care of the old; tourism; sports; hotels; catering; and education and training.

Such service industries would be encouraged to expand to rural areas. Infrastructure construction in rural areas would also be accelerated, according to the guideline as quoted by Xinhua. Private and overseas companies were welcome to invest in the elder care industry, it added.

The guideline is the first policy document released by the Chinese Government to target the services sector. The aim is to boost domestic consumption of services and improve the quality of Chinese services that are exported overseas, Xinhua reported.

The guideline also said the Government would reduce bank card transaction fees in sectors such as catering, and strengthen supervision of consumer services.

In the first three quarters of 2015, the Chinese economy expanded 6.9 percent, the slowest pace in more than six years.