FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) -- A record-breaking 500,000-plus people visited distilleries along Kentucky's bourbon trail in 2012, marking a 15 percent increase over the year before.

The director of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail tourism attraction said in a news release Monday that the new attendance record was 509,292. It is the first time since the trail opened in 1999 that the number of visitors broke the half-million mark.

Adam Johnson says visitors came from all 50 states and more than 50 countries.

The Kentucky Bourbon Trail is a distillery tour that features Four Roses and Wild Turkey in Lawrenceburg, Heaven Hill in Bardstown, Jim Beam in Clermont, Maker's Mark in Loretto, Town Branch in Lexington and Woodford Reserve in Versailles.