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Northern Ireland is to compete with Scotland, the Lake District and Devon and Cornwall to tempt more tourists in 2013.
In its new marketing campaign, Tourism Ireland is hoping to use the World Police and Fire Games, the G8 Summit and Londonderry's reign as the UK's City of Culture as key selling points to overseas markets next year.
Key markets being targeted by Tourism Ireland include the United States and mainland Europe, especially Germany, Australia and other emerging markets.
The sector is worth £400m to the Northern Ireland economy and supports 40,000 jobs..
A disappointing 15% drop in the number of Great Britain tourists last year has prompted a new strategy to target specific young, 'urban adventurers' and over-45s who want to explore landscapes, history and culture.
With a budget of around £35m to invest in the campaign, Tourism Ireland hopes that online advertising, TV and newspaper coverage will counteract the negative headlines of recent days, with stories of the Union flag protest at Belfast City Hall beamed worldwide.
Some 200 delegates attended the launch of the new campaign at Belfast's Hilton hotel, with the theme of Global Connections For Tourism Growth.
Tourism Minister Arlene Foster noted that Titanic Belfast smashed its visitor targets in 2012, with 615,000 visitors from 111 countries.
The new Giant's Causeway visitor centre has already welcomed over 300,000 visitors from 130 countries since its opening in July.
Tourism Ireland chief Niall Gibbons said that some of the events of 2012 had created marketing opportunities worth millions of pounds, which he hoped would attract visitors.
"The Queen's visit to Ireland generated publicity which would have cost £250m to buy," he said." He added that the Irish Open golf tournament was the first European Tour event to sell out and that Northern Ireland will once again be promoted as one of the world's top golfing destinations in 2013.
