BEIJING — The first China (Wuhan) Culture and Tourism Expo will take place in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei province, in November, according to a press briefing held in Beijing on Sept 18.

The expo will be hosted jointly by the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and the Hubei provincial government. It will take place from Nov 5 to 7, said Guo Yiqiang, deputy secretary-general of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee.

As a major step to drive the high-quality development of China's central region, the Wuhan expo is expected to boost the post-epidemic recovery of the tourism and cultural industry, Guo said.

The expo will feature four main events, including a city promotion event, a forum, a trade and investment conference, and a series of other activities.

China's culture and tourism industry has been recovering and picking up momentum since early this year, said Wang Xiaofeng, an official with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Statistics show that the total revenue of 63,000 large cultural enterprises across the country reached 5.44 trillion yuan ($843 billion) in the first half of 2021, 22 percent higher than the same period in 2019, Wang said.

In the first six months this year, around 1.87 billion domestic trips were made, and the total revenue of the domestic tourism market exceeded 1.6 trillion yuan. Both numbers have gone back to about 60 percent of the level of the same period in 2019, he added.