History & Location
Juan Dolio is a small seaside community and tourist destination in the province of San Pedro de Macoris on the southern coast of the Dominican Republic on the island of Hispaniola.
Location
The former fishing village of Juan Dolio is located on the Caribbean Sea and extends over a length of about 7 km along the coast and on both sides of the access road Avenida Boulevard passing through Juan Dolio. The western and eastern end of the access road Avenida Boulevard connects Juan Dolio with the highway DR-3 Autovia Del Este which bypasses the village in the north.
History
Juan Dolio has 2,488 inhabitants (2010) and belongs to the district municipality Guayacanes. In the pre-Columbian era, Juan Dolio was the site of a indigenous Arawaks settlement of the Taíno people known as El Corral with its cemetery near the western end of the bay. The natural bay of the Playa Juan Dolio protected by the coral reef in front was used as a harbor for their canoes. Occasionally are still archaeological findings made in the center area of Juan Dolio.
The legal foundation of the tourist destination Juan Dolio, began with the enactment of Decree No. 3133 of January 23, 1973, which sets the limits and extension of the area populated by fishermen and farmers. During the late 1980s Juan Dolio became one of the first tourist resorts in the country and an exclusive destination for mainly European tourists. Later the business concept of an All-inclusive resort offered by the various hotels lead to a tourist boom and the construction of new hotels in the western part of Juan Dolio, Villas Del Mar. In 1995 the hotels in Juan Dolio had a daily average of 5,500 tourists. After Hurricane Georges devastated Juan Dolio in 1998, many of the hotel chains moved their business further east where the new tourist destination Bávaro-Punta Cana was just built from the ground. The owners of the damaged resorts in Juan Dolio since then have problems attracting new business partners and most of the beach hotels were closed. Some of the older hotels were demolished and became development sites for real estate projects.
Since 2006 Juan Dolio is part of the municipality of Guayacanes, the latest district in the San Pedro de Macorís Province, created by Law No. 203-06 of May 3, 2006. Formally established in December 2007, the town council of Guayacanes is now also responsible for the administration of Juan Dolio.