
Staff and volunteers of the Eden Visitor Information Centre were thrilled to discover they'd won the Tourism Star Award in the virtual NSW Tourism Awards night on February 3.
This new accolade was added to the awards list to acknowledge "tremendous resilience and innovation during a period of immense challenges", and winners were selected from the large list of finalists from all categories.
Centre manager Clair Mudaliar said she and her team felt "so honoured" to have been selected for the award.
"The judges were obviously impressed with what we managed to achieve even through bushfires, floods and COVID," Ms Mudaliar said.
Ms Mudaliar said throughout the 18-month time period that the awards took in, the Eden Visitor Information Centre had achieved a number of objectives.
Some of these included moving to a new location within the iconic Eden Welcome Centre, rebranding, diversifying operations, offering mainly local products and striving to be innovative with their support to local businesses and the community.

In the manager's acceptance speech, Ms Mudaliar thanked all the volunteers who were integral to the running of the centre, and a special mention was given to Bob Sykes (assistant manager) for his knowledge and vision.
"We feel so proud to be acknowledged in this way, this award means the world to us it's a massive achievement for our little non-profit, volunteer staffed, centre to be able to take home a win at a state level," Ms Mudaliar said.
Ms Mudaliar said she was proud of the centre's resilience during the difficult years they've endured since the Black Summer Fires and COVID-19.
"In a time when visitor information centres are being closed down in surrounding shires, the Eden Visitor Information Centre continues to prove the worth of information centres and their value to the tourism economy," she said.
The Eden Visitor Information Centre is operated by not-for-profit entity EdenTourism, and the centre (now located at the Eden Wharf) is open seven days a week.