COLOMBO - China remains the largest tourist source market of Sri Lanka, with over 27,000 tourists arriving in the island country in August, statistics from the country's Tourism Ministry showed here on Wednesday.

Nearly 200,000 Chinese tourists have arrived in Sri Lanka from January to August this year, a 32 percent increase from the same period last year.

Overall, tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka rose 11.8 percent from a year earlier to 186,288 in August 2016, with total visitors up 16 percent to 1.3 million.

Tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka hit an all-time high in July with the number of arrivals exceeding 200,000 in one month alone.