TORONTO — Almost three million overseas tourists have visited Britain in the first four months of the year, a record, according to the latest International Passenger Survey (IPS) data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The nation has received a record 2.95 million visitors since the beginning of 2014. The year to date and 12-month rolling figures were up 8%.

In April 2014, holiday visits to the UK rose 16% from April of last year, the highest increase since 2007. From the three-month period of February to April, holiday visits were up 17% from the same period a year before.

There was a notable surge in visits from North Americans for April 2014, with an increase of 12% from 2013.

In 2013 Canadians made 744,000 visits to Britain.