Sovereign Hill has won the 2014 Victorian Tourism Awards, taking out the top spot in the Major Tourist Attractions category.

The awards recognise and celebrate outstanding achievement in the state's tourism sector.

Judged on its "service culture, sound business plan and innovative marketing program", Sovereign Hill won the award ahead of other well-known attractions such as Melbourne Aquarium and Mt Buller Alpine Resort, which were the finalists in the category.

Sovereign Hill's CEO Jeremy Johnson said they were thrilled to have been recognised with this award.

"We continuously strive to deliver new experiences to our visitors," he said.

"Over the past 12 months overall visitation to Sovereign Hill was up by three per cent for international visitors, and three per cent for Australian visitors.

"This is a credit to our staff and team of volunteers, whose efforts in delivering an exceptional visitor experience ensure visitors keep coming back."

There were a further 32 winners in individual categories, including Green Olive at Red Hill  who won the award for Excellence in Food Tourism and Melbourne Cup Carnival, who took the prize for Major Festivals and Events.

Six businesses were also inducted into the Awards Hall of Fame for winning their category for three consecutive years, two of which were the Falls Festival and the Peninsula Hot Springs.

Tourism and Major Events Minister Louise Asher congratulated the category winners for their commitment to tourism excellence and their outstanding efforts, which have been "instrumental in positioning Victoria as a leading tourism destination for visitors from around Australia and across the world."

Tourism contributes $19.6 billion to Victoria's economy, comprising our second largest export industry, and employs more than 200,000 people across Melbourne and regional Victoria.

Sovereign Hill has been a popular outdoor museum since it opened in November 1970. Mimicking life as it was in Ballarat during the gold rush of the 1850s, visitors can experience its replicas of shops, factories and homes, or try their luck panning for gold.

They were conducted into the Hall of Fame in 2005 after three consecutive wins, and won the national award the same year.

The winners will represent Victoria at the Australian Tourism Awards, held in Adelaide in April 2015.

The full list of winners can be found here.