Australia's Melbourne Zoo has been recently hailed as the best tourist attraction by the RACV Victorian Tourism Awards. Previous years' winner has always been the Melbourne Museum due to its impressive exhibitions of the Titanic and the Tutankhamun.

This year the award was given to the Melbourne Zoo due to the inspiring 150th anniversary campaign that revolved around certain events about baby elephant Mali. The black tie event was held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The campaign included 50 miniature elephants made out of fibreglass. They were coloured by the school kids and were all put in display around the zoo and the city. All of these were auctioned and garnered a total amount of $450,000 that was allotted for the conservation projects of the zoo.

Other Winners during the Event

The Kryal Castle Adventure Park and Resort got the new tourism development award, while the Victoria Racing Club grabbed the victory for the major festivals and events category.

Louise Asher, the minister for tourism and major events congratulated all of the winners whose efforts were all to sustain a tourism workforce that went beyond 200,000 and even contribute to the overall tourism industry.

Ms Asher did not fail to mention too the other unique tourism marketing campaigns that raised the level of social media awareness about Melbourne in China such as the "Open up to More" and the remote control tourist.

There were also three businesses that were inducted into the Hall of Fame for having won their assigned categories for three straight years like the RACV Inverlock Resort, Blue Moon Cottages and the Moonraker Dolphin Swims.

The rest of the winners include the following:

Hilton Melbourne South Wharf - luxury accommodation award

RACV Cobram Resort - tourist and caravan parks award

Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre - business tourism award

Bendigo's Central Deborah Gold Mine - heritage and cultural tourism award

(Video Credit: YouTube/mikeycbd)