Atout France is pleased to announce that we will be working with NAUSICAA throughout the year. The most popular tourist attraction in the Northern France is celebrating its 25th birthday and marking this milestone with a whole raft of special events. 

25th Anniversary

This year, NAUSICAA celebrates 25 years since it opened on 18 May 1991. This unique marine discovery centre is more than just an aquarium and focuses on educational and scientific programmes as well as entertaining visitors with its incredible array of fish and animals. With renowned exhibitions including enormous aquariums and high-tech devices, NAUSICAA provides an exceptional experience for visitors of all ages.

Typically Tropical - New in 2016

NAUSICAA never ceases to surprise and this year it's going tropical. Alongside coral reefs, tropical forests are symbols of earth's incredible biodiversity and create a home for more than half the world's animal and plant species. Tropical frogs, lizards, snakes and chameleons will find a new home in France in a tropical forest corridor which will open out onto a sensational space, a submerged forest filled with caimans and freshwater fish.

Finding Dory

Who can forget Finding Nemo, the cute Disney film that turned clownfish into stars. Disney is to release a follow up in July 2016 – Finding Dory, a chatty blue surgeon fish. At NAUSICAA, there's no need for cartoons as the real thing, sure to thrill families, can be seen in the tropical lagoon.

New Animals and Major Exhibitions for 2016

NAUSICAA will introduce yet more animals this year including seahorses, pipe fish and a giant Pacific octopus. The 25th Festival of Sea Imagery will take place 24th-28th March and on Saturday 26th March.

A special Easter hunt will take place at Audresselles beach close to NAUSICAA; participants will be able to admire the egg cases in which the young of many skates and rays and some sharks are laid.

World Ocean Day will be celebrated on 8th June, and the “Blue Planet” Literary Award will be presented on 29th July. The popular temporary exhibition “Ocean & Climate: Getting hot in here!” has been created in partnership with Meteo-France and the National Museum of Natural History; this year it will focus on the importance of the oceans in climate regulation.

For further information please contact
Anne Pedersen, Head of Public Relations Department, Atout France
anne.pedersen@atout-france.fr
Tel. 020 7061 6624, www.france.fr

Note to Editors

Finding Dory will be released in the UK on 29th July 2016. Pre-coverage press trips are available for visits to NAUSICAA to see the real thing.  More details to be made available soon.