The 2021 International Cultural and Creative Industry Development Forum will be held from Oct 14 and 17 in Huangshan city, East China's Anhui province, officials announced at a recent press conference in Beijing.

Over 300 experts, entrepreneurs and government officials in the culture and tourism industry will gather in Huangshan city, and communicate with their counterparts from overseas via the internet on how to boost recovery of the cultural and creative industry via innovation and build a sustainable culture and tourism industry amid the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Audiences will be able to watch livestreams of the discussions and interact online with guest speakers. Some cooperative projects in the culture and tourism industry will be signed during the forum. Meanwhile, a committee of entrepreneurs from home and abroad in the culture and tourism industry will be established, so they can better exchange views with each other and cooperate in more projects.

Cheng Hong, deputy mayor of Huangshan city, talked about the advantages of the city in tourism, culture, ecology and public transportation at the press conference. She said besides well-known Huangshan Mountain, the city is also home to Huizhou merchants who gained nationwide influence during the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911) and the national-level Huizhou Cultural Ecology Protection Zone that aims to preserve local intangible cultural heritage.

"It makes the city like a creative, roofless museum that tourists can directly interact with," she said.