BLUE Planet Aquarium in Ellesmere Port scooped a top honour at this year’s Visit Chester & Cheshire Annual Awards.

The aquarium’s ‘Shark Dive’ attraction was named Best Tourism Experience of the Year at the ceremony at Chester Racecourse.

Winners from all 15 categories were presented with their awards by BBC presenter Ranvir Singh following a rigorous assessment by a panel of industry experts.

Speaking at the ceremony, Ranvir said: “Demonstrating true excellence in all areas is essential for a business to keep ahead of the competition.

“All of tonight’s winners have shown that going the extra mile in their field can spell success.”

Visit Chester & Cheshire’s chief executive Chris Brown added: “This year we received a record number of nominations with standards across the board reaching a particularly high level.

“Many Cheshire businesses have clearly strived to offer the very best for their customers through their offering, whether it is through using quality local produce like the Taste of Cheshire award winner 1539 Restaurant, or by creating something that truly has the ‘wow’ factor like this year’s Best Tourism Experience of the Year winner, the Shark Dive at Blue Planet Aquarium.”

The awards were supported by the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA), Trinity Mirror, Virgin Trains, Bank of America, DTM Legal, Prodo and the Environment Agency.

Some of the winners will now automatically qualify for the England’s Northwest Tourism Awards organised by the NWDA, which takes place later this year.