Beijing hosted a record high of 1.86 million overseas visitors in the first five months of the year, up 23.7 percent from a year earlier, the municipal statistics bureau said Saturday.

The number includes 1.58 million foreign visitors, up 27.1 percent, and 284,000 tourists from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, up 7.3 percent.

The Chinese capital received 472,000 overseas tourists in May alone, up 29.7 percent from a year earlier.

The United States, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) were the top three tourist sources in May, the bureau said.

In May, Beijing hosted 69,000 U.S. tourists, 53,000 Japanese tourists and 51,000 ROK tourists.