When Taleb Rifai took the helm of the United Nations World Tourism Organization eight years ago, other U.N. leaders questioned why the organization even had such an agency. At the time, it would have been hard to envision how many would come to see tourism as an important tool for sustainable development.

What has really changed in his tenure is how people view tourism, Rifai, the secretary-general of the UNWTO, told Devex in an interview. That’s evident in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s decision to count contributions to the UNWTO as official development assistance and by the U.N. General Assembly declaring 2017 to be the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development.

While there has been progress, Rifai sees three main challenges facing the industry: safety, security, and seamless travel; technology and its disruptive ability; and sustainability.

Tourism needs to change in some important ways to ensure that communities benefit from tourism development and that it is done in ways that are sustainable for the environment and society, he [Rifai] said.

Read the full article by Adva Saldinger about tourism for development from Devex International Development