Costa Rica’s nation brand, esencial Costa Rica, and export promoter Procomer reversed a tourism marketing alliance with Uber just one day after announcing it, following sharp criticism from the country’s formal tourism transport sector.
The agreement, announced Monday, had presented Uber as an allied app for tourism in Costa Rica. The plan called for Uber to integrate tourism content into its app, including direct access to the Camino a Costa Rica platform, and to promote Costa Rican destinations through digital channels, creators and communications aimed at markets in North America and Latin America. Uber said more than 1.6 million visitors from over 130 countries had used the app in Costa Rica since the company entered the country.
By Tuesday evening, the alliance was dead.
Procomer and esencial Costa Rica said the agreement had only involved the projection of images and messages about Costa Rica inside Uber’s app and did not amount to a licensing of the nation brand or a commercial endorsement of the platform. The institutions said they ended the promotional alliance after concerns from tourism transporters over the scope of the initiative.
The reversal followed an urgent complaint from the Costa Rican Tourism Transporters Association, known as Asotranstur, which sent a letter to the Costa Rican Tourism Institute, or ICT. The association argued that the partnership sent a contradictory message to formal tourism transport companies that operate under Costa Rica’s regulatory system.
Asotranstur said its members must pay municipal patents, social security contributions to the CCSS, insurance, technical inspections, ICT certifications, permits from the Public Transport Council and taxes. The group questioned why a platform still facing regulatory objections would be linked to the country’s official tourism image while formal operators must meet years of requirements to stay in compliance.
The dispute touches one of Costa Rica’s longest-running transport battles. Uber has been in Costa Rica since 2015, but its position has remained contested. The Public Transport Council declared the service illegal shortly after its launch, saying Uber lacked the authorizations required to provide paid passenger transport. Uber has long maintained that it operates as a technology platform rather than a taxi company.
That unresolved status made the tourism-brand alliance politically sensitive from the start. For tourists, Uber is widely known and frequently used, especially in urban areas and around major destinations. For regulated tourism transport companies, the issue is different: they argue they compete against a platform that does not carry the same operating costs or permits.
Uber criticized Procomer’s decision to end the campaign and said the alliance had been designed to help more people visit and learn about Costa Rica. The company also said other transport sectors could join similar technology-based efforts, including taxis.
The short-lived agreement also highlighted a broader tension in Costa Rica’s tourism strategy. The country wants to meet visitors where they already plan and move, including through global apps. But any official link with Uber immediately runs into a regulatory debate that has never been settled.
For now, esencial Costa Rica and Procomer have stepped back from the alliance. Our country’s official brand will not be used in a way that appears to favor Uber while formal operators remain under strict regulation.
The episode leaves the larger question unanswered. Costa Rica continues to market itself as a modern destination while relying on a transport framework that has struggled to keep up with how many visitors actually move around the country.
