Tourism NI said it expects a strategy to be in place by early next year.
Janice Gault from the Hotels Federation told the BBC's Inside Business programme it was crucial for the industry.
She said a "partnership" approach was essential.
"I mean we've really urged people to get a strategy at sort of quite a high level so that everybody can buy into that," she said.
"Hotels have probably spent about a billion pounds in the last decade and are set to spend more."
Ms Gault said another big boom was expected in the hotel market which would probably generate another half a billion pounds.
"The funny thing about the strategy is we still have the target, but we don't have the strategy. We only have one way to go and that's growth and the way for us to get that is to partnership," she added.

Military officials said 50m naira ($317,000; Â£197,709) was offered for help in tracking down the group's suspected leader Abubakar Shekau.
Other alleged commanders have around 10m naira on their head.
Boko Haram has been waging an insurgency since 2009 to impose strict Sharia law across Nigeria.
The group has claimed responsibility for a number of attacks against churches and other establishments since 2009. More than 640 people have died so far this year in attacks blamed on the group.
"They are wanted in connection with terrorist activities particularly in the north-east zone of Nigeria that led to the killings, bombings and assassination of some civilians, religious leaders, traditional rulers, businessmen, politicians, civil servants and security personnel amongst others," a military statement said.
"They are also wanted for arson and destruction of properties worth millions of naira."
Abubakar Shekau was one of three Boko Haram leaders designated terrorists by the United States in June. The other two, Abubakar Adam Kambar and Khalid al-Barnawi, are thought to have ties with a branch of al-Qaeda.
A reward was offered by the Nigerian military for Khalid Barnawi on Friday but not Abubakar Kambar, AFP news agency reports.
Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is a sacrilege" in the Hausa language, is based in the dominantly Muslim north of Nigeria.
The south of the oil rich country is mostly Christian.

Thanet District Council (TDC) was court ordered to lift a ban on live animal exports through the Port of Ramsgate.
It paid more than £5m in compensation to traders but has not submitted an insurance claim to retrieve any money.
Campaigners said taxpayers had been left to foot the bill as the council missed the deadline.
Ian Driver, a community campaigner and former councillor, said the figures had only just come to light after a Freedom of Information request.
Mr Driver, said: "So there you have it: a major administrative cock-up by TDC means that taxpayers have been forced to foot a £5.1 million bill some, if not all, of which would have been covered by insurance payments had the claim been submitted in time. But it wasn't."
TDC said the maximum payment under the policy was £1m.
A spokesman said: "The legal claims against the council have all been settled and accounted for in previous year's budgets."
TDC banned live animal exports in 2012 after the deaths of more than 40 sheep.
The decision was overturned by the High Court in 2014 after a long legal battle.
Mr Justice Birss said the council was liable to pay damages to three companies affected by the ban.
Two sheep drowned at Ramsgate in September 2012 and 44 had to be destroyed as they were sick and lame.
The animals were put down after the lorry carrying them was stopped at Ramsgate by animal health inspectors.
In a separate incident, a loading area floor also collapsed while sheep were taken off a lorry carrying 548 animals.
Six fell in the water, with four rescued by RSPCA officers while two animals drowned.
The live animal export trade resumed through Ramsgate in July 2015.
The Hotels Federation has called for a proper tourism strategy for Northern Ireland to help boost growth in the sector.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
Nigeria's military is offering large rewards for information leading to the capture of leaders of the militant Islamist group Boko Haram.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
A council has been accused of a "major administrative cock-up" after failing to make an insurance claim for up to £1m.