Six Senses Con Dao Wins People Category At 2025 Exo Sustainability Awards
Six Senses Con Dao was named the Diamond winner in the People category of the Tourism Private Companies sector at the 2025 EXO Sustainability Awards, recognizing its commitment to empowering local communities, preserving cultural heritage, and protecting the island’s natural environment through long-term, people-centered initiatives.
The EXO Sustainability Awards, presented annually by the EXO Foundation, celebrate organizations across Southeast Asia that harness tourism as a positive force for society and the environment. As a non-profit dedicated to advancing responsible travel, the EXO Foundation has long championed initiatives that protect the planet, empower communities, safeguard cultural heritage, and create meaningful, lasting benefits for local people.
Now in its third year, the EXO Sustainability Awards recognized Six Senses Con Dao as the Diamond winner of the People category, a distinction that celebrates initiatives placing local communities at the heart of tourism. The award highlights the resort’s commitment to creating opportunities, building resilience, and strengthening cultural identity on the island
On Con Dao, where clean drinking water was once a daily struggle, the Water for All program has transformed daily life. Eleven purification systems now flow across the island, bringing clean water to schools, hospitals, and community spaces. For more than 3,194 people, safe drinking water is no longer a question of survival – it is a daily reality. For parents, it means less worry. For children, it means more time learning, playing, and simply being kids.
Caring for the island’s future also means rethinking the way waste is seen. In 2024, Six Senses Con Dao joined hands with the Youth Union and WWF Vietnam to create the 2R Station Project, a community hub for recycling and reuse. More than 441 kilograms of waste have already been diverted from the ocean and landfill. Yet its impact is measured in more than numbers—it is in the sight of children sorting plastic into bins, in neighbors exchanging ideas about reuse, in a community slowly shifting toward a circular way of living.
The heart of the island lies in its people, especially its youth. Since 2017, free English classes led by the resort’s Training Manager and supported by volunteer hosts have opened new doors for over 150 children. For some, it has been the first step toward higher education; for others, a pathway to future career opportunities in tourism and beyond.
In 2025, this spirit of empowerment grew through a partnership with the Take Wing Center of the Maison Chance Foundation. In the resort’s boutique, guests now find handwoven brocade turtles—soft, colorful, and filled with meaning. Each one is crafted by artisans with special needs or from disadvantaged backgrounds. Every turtle carries not only their skill, but also their story of resilience, independence, and hope.
That same year, the island’s young women found a new kind of support through Vietnam’s first hotel-led Menstrual Health Education & Sustainability Initiative. With workshops and reusable products, the program brought more than sustainability—it brought dignity. It sparked conversations often left unspoken, equipping young women with confidence and knowledge that ripple outward into their families and futures.
Compassion here extends to every life on the island, even the four-legged ones. Through the Animal Welfare Initiative, in partnership with Laws for Paws Vietnam, 29 dogs and 7 cats received vital veterinary care—vaccinations, deworming, and parasite treatments. For families, this meant healthier, happier companions; for the community, it meant kindness reaching beyond humans to the animals that share their homes and lives.
Together, these stories form a single truth: at Six Senses Con Dao, hospitality means more than service. It means clean water flowing in schools, children learning new words in English, women gaining confidence in their voices, artisans finding pride in their craft, and even pets wagging their tails in health. It means that every guest who stays, every turtle purchased, every bottle of water sold is part of something bigger – a promise that the island’s people, culture, and nature will thrive side by side, long after footprints in the sand have washed away.
“At Six Senses Con Dao, we believe true sustainability is about people – their stories, their resilience, and their future. This recognition is not only about what we do, but about what we share with the Con Dao community: clean water in schools, new opportunities for children, dignity for young women, and care for the island’s wildlife. It is their spirit that inspires us every day to keep building a future where nature and community thrive together.”- Manjit Ghosh, General Manager, Six Senses Con Dao.
Each project, whether providing clean water, teaching language skills, supporting women’s health, or caring for animals, reflects a vision of hospitality that extends far beyond the resort itself. By placing community at the heart of its journey, the resort continues to build a future where Con Dao thrives—its people empowered, its traditions preserved, and its natural beauty protected for generations to come.
Media Contact:
Ms. Le Kim Thuy Trang (Kim)
Director of Marketing & Communications
Six Senses Con Dao
E trang.le@sixsenses.com
T +84 369 58 3474
ABOUT SIX SENSES CON DAO
Six Senses Con Dao is perched on a 2km golden sandy bay, overlooking the sapphire blue ocean and sheltered by a verdant forest. In appreciation of the resort’s luxurious facilities, out-of-the-ordinary services, and ongoing commitment to sustainability, Six Senses Con Dao is known as a world-class property, receiving the respected recognition of Travel + Leisure as the #1 Resort in Southeast Asia as well as one of the best hotels in the world. Condé Nast Traveller have also voted Six Senses Con Dao one of the top 20 resorts in Asia, as well as being hailed a top ecolodge by National Geographic.
Six Senses Con Dao boasts 50 luxurious pool villas, ranging from one to four bedrooms, each with its own infinity-edged pool. The resort enjoys a private and secluded setting, offering a variety of activities to entertain guests of all ages and satisfy the most discerning tastes. Two world-class restaurants and two unique bars provide memorable food and drink experiences for guests staying at the resort.
ABOUT SIX SENSES
Six Senses, part of IHG Hotels & Resorts’ luxury and lifestyle portfolio, operates 27 hotels and resorts and has signed a further 40 properties into the development pipeline.
Six Senses serves as a changemaker and maintains a leadership commitment to community, sustainability, emotional hospitality, wellness, and crafted experiences, infused with a touch of quirkiness. Whether an exquisite island resort, mountain retreat, or urban hotel, the vision remains the same: to reawaken people’s senses so they feel the purpose behind their travels and ultimately reconnect with themselves, others, and the world around them.
Six Senses Residences offers all the unique amenities of a resort life community while retaining the privacy and personal touches of a beautifully appointed private villa or apartment.
Six Senses Spas guide guests on their personal path to well-being in all resorts as well as a handful of standalone spas. The high-tech and high-touch approach goes beyond ordinary beauty treatments to offer holistic wellness, integrative medicine, and longevity.
Figures as of June 30, 2024
