MALIK FERNANDO

CHAIRMAN | RESPLENDENT CEYLON

- By Rishini Weeraratne

As Chairman of Resplendent Ceylon and co-Chair of the Sri Lanka Tourism Alliance, Malik J. Fernando is widely regarded as one of Sri Lanka's best global tourism ambassadors. With deep roots in the globally renowned tea company Dilmah and a visionary commitment to luxury hospitality, he has helped soften longstanding perceptions and reposition the island as a high-end, experience-driven destination. In this interview, Malik addresses the recent US travel advisory and explores the broader implications for media, destination branding and investor confidence. His insights reflect not only his commercial acumen, but a conviction that tourism communication is, in essence, national economic diplomacy.

The recent US travel advisory in October caused concern locally, even though it was a routine update. What went wrong in the way this information was communicated?

It was a routine global-format revision with no change to Sri Lanka's risk level. The issue was not the advisory itself, but how it was interpreted and amplified locally. A single line was added about landmines in a small, already-demarcated northern area, but some media outlets repeated old warnings as if they were new. That created unnecessary alarm and noise, even though the facts hadn't changed. Fortunately, most of the confusion stayed within local channels and didn't meaningfully affect international sentiment.

How can Sri Lankan media balance transparency with responsibility when reporting issues that could impact tourism?

By applying two filters: fact-checking and proportionality. Tourism is a reputation-based industry, so accuracy matters; but tone matters just as much. Transparency doesn't mean amplifying worst-case interpretations; it means reporting information in context, at the correct scale, and only after confirming whether anything has actually changed.