Tourists have fun at Playa Maya Water Park in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei Province, August 15, 2020. Photo: Xinhua

Central China's Hubei Province saw an accelerated recovery in its tourism sector in August as life returns to normal, especially in the capital city Wuhan, where hotel revenues increased by 40 percent compared with July. 

Hubei has received tourists from across the country seeking to reconnect with the original epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak and to experience its unique summer beauty after the province launched the "Travel with love to Hubei" campaign on August 8, which required all A-level scenic spots to open to tourists for free.

As of Sunday, a total of 14.7 million people had visited Hubei's A-level scenic spots since the campaign began, contributing to revenues of some 1.4 billion yuan ($200 million), according to statistics from the Hubei Bureau of Culture and Tourism. 

The resumption rate of star-rated hotels in Hubei reached 92.99 percent as of Sunday, with 345 star-rated hotels in the province going back to business. The occupancy rate of the hotels in the province reaches 48% on weekends and 45% during work days, said the bureau. 

Specifically, Wuhan, Yichang and Shiyan are the three most popular cities for tourists. 

In Wuhan, the number of air ticket bookings to the city increased 29 percent month-on-month in August, with an increase of 30 percent in ticket booking revenue, according to data published by Ctrip, a popular travel service platform in China on Tuesday. 

The revenue from hotel bookings in Wuhan saw a rise of 40 percent in August compared with July and the overall occupancy rate of starred hotels in the city increased by 13 percentage points over the same period in 2019, said Ctrip.

A staff member of the Wuhan Wanda hotel told the Global Times on Tuesday that the number of guests the hotel received in August increased by around 5 percent over July, and she believed that the travel-boosting campaign is a major factor behind this rise. 

She also noted that the trend seems to have continued in the first week of September, which is a typical off-season for hotels as it comes right before the week-long National Day holidays in early October. 

Hubei has witnessed a boom in resumption of life and production after the epidemic ebbed in the region. 

Schools reopened in early September, welcoming millions of students back from home and abroad. People are getting back to their usual entertainment - attending parties, going to music festivals and offline shows.

"Hubei has now gone back to hospitable Hubei again, as our lives returned to normal. Every guest is welcome to our 'home'," said Qu Qu, a Wuhan resident, on Chinese social media Sina Weibo.