Håvar Bauck

12 years ago, @endreoo and I turned 5 apartments near #JKIA into a serviced hotel. That project sparked a hospitality tech revolution. Today, @HotelOnlineLtd supports 5,000+ hotel partners in 27 countries. Huge thanks to @NationAfrica & @maggiemainah Margaret Maina for telling our story. #Entrepreneurship #StartupJourney #AfricaRising #TravelTech #Innovation #Tourism #Travel #TravelIndustry #TravelTech #Hospitality #HospitalityIndustry #Nairobi #Kenya #Africa #AfricaRising

What an event! Last week’s Magical Kenya Travel Expo was Kenya’s tourism show of the year, and Kenya Tourism Board has every reason to be proud. I moderated the opening panel on data governance and AI in tourism, before joining the next discussion on digital transformation along the traveller’s journey. Strong fellow panelists, enlightening ideas and lively exchanges on questions that will shape tourism in Kenya and globally for years to come. Digital transformation and AI were this year’s central theme, and deservedly so. How we use these technologies to understand our visitors, improve their experiences and make our tourism businesses more competitive deserves a prominent place on the industry’s agenda. MKTE first outgrew KICC. Uhuru Gardens has served it as well as it could. Looking forward to next year at Bomas! #MKTE2026 #MagicalKenya #AI #TravelTech #Traveltechnology @magicalkenya @JuneChepkemei @rebecca_miano @MKTravelExpo @HotelOnlineLtd @HospitalityEq @barry_clemens – at Nairobi, Kenya

What will bring more of the world’s conferences and exhibitions to Africa? I’ll be speaking at Africa MICE Summit 2026 in Mombasa, where we’ll explore how business events can drive trade, investment and innovation across the continent. If you’re in hospitality, events or tourism investment, join us to exchange ideas and meet people you could build something with. Come with a project, a question or an ambition. Let’s talk about what comes next. 📍 Tembo International Convention Centre, Mombasa 📅 1–2 October 2026 See you in Mombasa! africamicesummit.com #MICE #Kenya #Africa #AMS2026 #AfricaMICESummit #Investment #Hospitality #MICEIndustry #TourismIndustry #TravelIndustry #TravelTech

Most of us have spent our lives looking at a map that makes Africa look much smaller than it really is. The UN General Assembly has now backed the Equal Earth projection, with 164 countries voting in favour and only the US against. The resolution is non-binding, but the message matters. Maps shape how we understand the world. Mercator was designed for navigation in 1569, not to diminish Africa. But it became the default picture of the world. Africa and Greenland appear roughly the same size, even though Africa is 14 times larger. Equal Earth shows Africa closer to its true scale — and makes its distances, diversity, markets and infrastructure needs harder to ignore. The continent covers 20% of the world’s land area, is home to nearly 1.6 billion people, and accounts for only around 3% of global GDP. Africa did not suddenly become larger. We are finally showing it properly. Almost the entire world has voted to Make Africa Great Again. At least on the maps. For now. bauck.com/equal-earth-africa… #Africa #EqualEarth #Mercator #UNGA2026

Africa is finally taking the world map to a vote. Today, the UN General Assembly will vote on an African-led resolution calling for wider use of map projections that show continents at their true relative sizes. Mercator designed his projection in 1569 for navigation, and for that purpose it was ingenious. But it massively distorts land size, especially away from the equator. Africa is about 14 times larger than Greenland, yet on the map most of us grew up with, they can look almost comparable. The strange part is not that a 16th-century European cartographer produced a Eurocentric map. It is that nearly 500 years later, we still use it so widely. The distortion survives online too: zoom out on Google Maps and compare Greenland with Africa. Shame on you, Google. Maps shape how we picture the world, and for generations that picture has visually diminished Africa while exaggerating Europe, North America, Russia and Greenland. Good to see Africa taking the initiative to change this. Common sense is not always as common as the expression suggests, but hopefully it prevails at the UN today. theguardian.com/world/2026/s… #CorrectTheMap #Africa #EqualEarth #UN #UNGA2026

Norway has lost more than a King. We have lost someone who represented the very best of our country, with warmth, wisdom, dignity and a wonderful sense of humour. King Harald brought us together in our proudest moments and our darkest hours. Thank you for everything, Your Majesty. Rest in peace. Alt for Norge. 🇳🇴 My heartfelt condolences go to his family and to my fellow Norwegians, at home and around the world. I wish King Haakon VIII strength and every success as he takes on this immense responsibility. The King is dead. Long live the King. #KingHarald #KingHaraldV #KingHaakonVIII #Norway #Monarchy #Leadership #PublicService

Chemka Springs. In the middle of nowhere, at the foot of Kilimanjaro. 🇹🇿 #tanzania #kilimanjaro #arusha #exploringtheglobe #globetrotting

#africamicesummit #nakuru #kenya #mice #africa

A conference is an export industry wearing a name badge. Kenya’s MICE opportunity spans airports, hotels, venues, transport, technology, professional talent and destination experiences. Nairobi is already growing into a global conference city, with BICC, the UN expansion, Railway City, new hotels and the USD 1.2 billion JKIA upgrade adding serious capacity. Looking further ahead, Nairobi should begin planning for an international expo city. Like the SGR, the A8 expansion and JKIA, it would be strategic national infrastructure capable of bringing major exhibitions, visitors, trade, investment and revenue into Kenya. The opportunity extends nationwide. Tembo gives Mombasa major beachfront convention capacity and will host the Africa MICE Summit in October. Naivasha and Nakuru can grow as a Rift Valley MICE corridor. Kisumu can build around its lakefront. Kenya also needs a strong convention bureau, active event pipelines, better data, technology and deeper professional talent. Venues build capacity. The ecosystem creates the return. linkedin.com/pulse/kenyas-co… via @LinkedIn #MICE #HospitalityIndustry #TourismIndustry #Conferences #Kenya #Nairobi #Mombasa #Nakuru #Naivasha #Kisumu #Africa

Nakuru has a real opportunity to emerge as one of Kenya’s next MICE destinations. The ingredients are coming together. Better accessibility, growing hotel and conference capacity, and a strong destination experience combining Nakuru and Naivasha. The next step is turning those ingredients into a competitive MICE ecosystem that can consistently win business. Great discussion with James Mokaya and Ducan Maina Mwangi at the Africa MICE Summit Round Table. #MICE #HospitalityIndustry #TourismIndustry #Travelndustry #Nakuru #Kenya #Africa @MICESummit2026 @theencorenakuru

Kenya must think far bigger about MICE. Nairobi is already one of Africa’s leading business-events destinations. The next goal is to compete with the world’s best, while building Mombasa, Naivasha, Kisumu and entirely new destinations into the next generation of MICE hubs. New venues will help, but venues alone won’t get us there. We need skills, technology, experience, strong public-private cooperation and a steady, predictable pipeline of events. That is how MICE becomes a cornerstone of Kenya’s tourism industry and a powerful driver of national growth. My thoughts from the Africa MICE Investors & Stakeholders Round Table. The conversation continues at the Africa MICE Summit in Mombasa this October. #mice #kenya #africa #nairobi #mombasa #naivasha #kisumu #traveltechnology #tourismindustry #hospitalityindustry youtube.com/watch?v=D9Ajtnm9… @MICESummit2026 @hub_mice

Agentic search is rising fast. Agentic travel bookings are next. As I explain in this article, hotels that make live rates and availability directly accessible to AI agents may reduce their dependency on OTAs. Those that aren't ready may become even more dependent. Agentic commerce will reconfigure hotel distribution, bringing new players and shifting power across the market. The biggest disruption since the rise of the OTAs is already underway. Thank you, @TitaVald, for this insightful article. guzangs.com/the-machine-has-…

Africa is now the world’s fastest-growing tourism region, with a record 81.3 million international arrivals in 2025. Yet Sub-Saharan Africa receives only 35 arrivals per 1,000 residents, less than one-fifth of the global average. The growth is impressive, but the gap is glaring. Across 54 very different countries, closing even part of it could unlock massive investment and tens of millions of jobs. It is one of Africa’s biggest economic opportunities requiring relatively few painful choices: sound investment-friendly policies, better connectivity, easier visas, stronger infrastructure and better skills. #africa #tourism #travel #tourisminvestment bauck.com/africa-rising-fast…

The US just slapped a Level 4: Do Not Travel advisory on Uganda. Why? Because Two (2) people there have died of ebola in 2026. Of a population of 46 million, that's a 0.0000043% risk of dying from ebola. In the US so far this year, 264 people have died in mass shootings. Of a population of 342 million, that's a 0.00008% chance. Simplified: The risk of dying in a mass shooting in the US is 18 times higher than that of dying from ebola in Uganda. Where is the travel advisory? (looking forward to visiting Uganda soon again) travel.state.gov/en/internat…