Sri Lanka won the "Most Popular Tourism Destination Award" at the Guangzhou International Travel Fair (GITF) in China, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday.

The island nation won the prestigious award for the second consecutive year which is a testament to its growing popularity among Chinese travel enthusiasts, Xinhua news agency cited the statement as saying.

China has been Sri Lanka's second largest source market for tourism since 2014.

The volume of visitors to this event has been increasing annually and this has enabled Sri Lanka to gain greater exposure and visibility for its unique destination brand, the statement said.