Florida sets quarterly tourism record

TALLAHASSEE — The Sunshine State set a single-quarter record for visitors in the first three months of 2013, according to Visit Florida.

The early estimates, say officials with Visit Florida, the state's tourism marketing department, is 26 million people visited the state in the first quarter. That's up 4.7% from the 2012 first quarter, which was another three-month high.

The number of foreign visitors to Florida is on the rise, too. About 1.5 million of the total first quarter visitors were from Canada, the News Service of Florida reports, which is a 3.9% increase over 2012. Another 2.7 million visitors came from overseas, an 11.3% increase.