Orlando became the first U.S. destination to hit a historic 72 million visitors in 2017, according to Visit Orlando, which is the region's tourism bureau.

That's up 5 percent from 2016 and continues Orlando's reign as the No. 1 travel destination in the U.S.

Domestic visitation grew to 65.86 million people and the number of international visitors reached 6.15 million last year.

Meanwhile, Orange County Convention Center attendance grew 5 percent to 1.53 million.

In addition, Orlando International Airport saw airline traffic increase to 44.6 million passengers in 2017, up by 6.4 percent from the prior year. And 2018 already is seeing record numbers for the airport.

The Orlando tourism industry now is a $70 billion industry — Central Florida's dominant economic engine, which employs thousands of local workers and pumps money into local attractions, hotels, shops, restaurants and more. The Orange County tourist tax, paid by tourists when they stay at area hotels, also helps fund things like improvements to Camping World Stadium.

See the photo gallery above for a look at future Walt Disney World (NYSE: DIS), SeaWorld Orlando (NYSE: SEAS) and Comcast Corp.'s (Nasdaq: CMCSA) Universal Orlando attractions, such as Disney's planned new Star Wars land and its year-old Pandora: The World of Avatar, which help draw millions to the region each year.