Par Nicolas Lepigeon
Published on
“I am delighted to join this beautiful house, and this beautiful team. Before being contacted by a recruitment firm in 2022, Michel Rouger had never set foot in Cherbourgand knew La Cité de la Mer “only by reputation”.
So he came to visit it and was “won over”. For the past few days, he has officially been the new general manager, alongside Chairman Bernard Cauvin and Director of Operations Sophie Poret. With a crew of just over forty employees to lead.
Old 46 ansMichel Rouger grew up in Lyon, then his career led him to move “a bit everywhere”, in Paris and in several French regions. He was a consultant in cultural engineering for several years, then took over the management of tourist structures.
I don’t come from the maritime world, but I specialize in the world of museums and mediation in order to make culture accessible to as many people as possible, to enter through the sensitive to make people want to know more .
The forty-year-old thus worked on the birth and management of the Museum of the Great War in Meaux (Seine-et-Marne) for ten years. Before joining La Cité de la Mer, he had been in charge of the archaeological site since September 2016. MuséoParc Alesia (Côte d’Or), which has the themes “The story of the siege of Alesia in -52” and “The myth of the founding of the French nation”. According to the DBM (for Dijon Beaune Mag), he will leave good memories: “The local actors discovered a director with an affable and dynamic style, anxious to reinvent the ways of appropriating History. »
In Cherbourg, he knows that he is disembarking on a large liner which has just celebrated its 20th anniversary, and which is therefore at a turning point. “For the site to work well, it has to rely on its two legs: tourism and anchoring in the territory, for residents. This DNA is its strength, but you have to know how to reinvent yourself. There is also almost a public service mission, a role to play in raising awareness about saving the oceans, especially among younger generations. I am still in immersion, in the discovery phase, but I have no doubt that we will bring this house to life. »
Interview with Bernard Cauvin, president of La Cité de la Mer
Actu : Are you in the company of a new director, are you preparing for the future?
Bernard Cauvin: Michel Rouger has been with us since October 2022, but he was officially appointed General Manager of La Cité de la Mer on February 3, 2023 during the Board of Directors meeting. The Board of Directors validated the separation of my functions as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, which I had held for 23 years! This allows me to take a step back. I’ve been working on the project for about thirty years, I used to spend my weekends there… We started from nothing and we managed to save the transatlantic station, as well as the Redoutable. We created this fabulous site from scratch. I’m going to stay for a while longer to ensure a smooth transition and to pursue relations with the scientific network, with the State and the local authorities.
The year 2022 was exceptional in terms of attendance, how do you analyze it?
B.C. : Indeed, it ended with a record attendance of 275,000 visitors! As a reminder, it was 245,000 visitors in 2019, the year of the appearance of the Ocean of the Future. Some say it’s because of the 20th anniversary, I don’t think so. A milestone has been reached, tourist trends have evolved. When we see that we have welcomed 13,000 Germans, against 4000-4500 usually, or even +40% Belgians, we even note big increases from departments like Seine-Maritime… We are starting to see Italians arriving too. If we compare with Nausicaá (Editor’s note: National Sea Center in Boulogne-sur-Mer), their attendance has also exploded. These are positive signals which mean that – in my opinion – we can still continue at this pace.
It must be said that you went all out to celebrate 20 years…
B.C. : Today, La Cité de la Mer is part of Cotentin’s DNA. The icing on the cake: this title of Favorite Monument of the French, thanks to word of mouth and opinion relays for all these years. To bring tourists up to the Cotentin, you have to pick them up with your teeth (laughs)! This success is the result of the work and professionalism of our teams, and I thank them for that. They ended up out of breath, working to organize one event a month. For example, bringing in 900 young people in one day is not done like that! Or the first Festival of the Sea at the beginning of July, which brought together 300 volunteers, 50 associations and thousands of visitors: it was really a great party, but also a titanic job. A very heavy project to carry, and if we had more means, we would have more teams provided to organize all that.
The anniversary was punctuated by meetings of Génération Océan. How do you envision the sequel?
B.C. : Génération Océan is a very special event – and unique in Europe – which brought 10,000 young people to La Cité de la Mer! From primary school children to students, passing through college and high school students, they were mainly from Cherbourg-en-Cotentin and Cotentin. They were able to meet scientists and leading specialists in the maritime world. An extraordinary success for us and for popular education, which is particularly close to my heart. And the feedback from the education community is exciting. We will work to expand the operation by relocating to Caen, Saint-Lô, etc. To do this, we need to find the right speakers, who know how to talk to young people.
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