THE body which promotes tourism in Belfast wants the number of overnight stays in the city to more than double in the next three years.
Visit Belfast said it hoped there would be 690,000 nights booked a year by 2018 - up from the current 290,000.
The plan was laid out as part of its strategic vision for 2015-18, launched yesterday.
Visit Belfast said tourism growth in the coming years would be driven by campaigns aimed at younger travellers as well as 'culturally curious' visitors attracted by the city's heritage.
The organisation said the plans would deliver a record return of £370 million to the Belfast economy.
Belfast lord mayor Arder Carson said: "Belfast's tourism economy has continued to grow over the years, propelled by millions of pounds of public and private investment in our tourism infrastructure, delivering world class attractions and events, award-winning restaurants, bars and accommodation, unique visitor experiences and independent shops and stores that few cities can emulate.
"Belfast City Council is only too aware of the importance of tourism to the city - it supports the economy directly and indirectly. From supporting 17,000 jobs within the tourism economy, to enabling investment in infrastructure, transport services and leisure and cultural facilities, a growing tourism industry ultimately benefit us all.
A separate Belfast's Integrated Tourism Strategy 2015-20 has already earmarked a planned doubling in tourism revenue for the city by 2020 to £870m from £438m in 2013.
In 2013, Belfast accounted for almost half of overnight tourist trips to Northern Ireland and 60 per cent of all tourist expenditure in the north.
Last year saw the best ever annual hotel room occupancy rate for the city at 76.1 per cent with weekend room occupancy at 86.9 per cent and room sales up 6.4 per cent.
Visit Belfast chief executive Gerry Lennon said it was "testament to the partnerships in place to promote the city both in the UK, Ireland and over-seas, and this clearly validates that Belfast has become one of the world's leading tourist destinations".
"As an organisation, we are pleased to have delivered on our commitments for 2014, meeting and exceeding our own challenging targets and ensuring this exciting, vibrant and forward-looking city continues to achieve its tourism potential," he said.
"International tourism is a growth industry but the global marketplace is getting tougher as cities and countries emerge. Belfast is outperforming others in terms of growth and we can continue to do that with the right focus, priorities, investment and activity.
"Visit Belfast, its funders, partners, stakeholders and members, look forward to delivering that continued success, to rapidly increasing the impact of tourism on the local economy and to ensuring we play a significant part in the goal to create a £1bn tourism industry in Northern Ireland by 2020."