Costa Rica’s main tourism chamber is pushing back against the use of ride-sharing platforms in official tourism promotion, arguing that public and private campaigns should not promote services that operate outside the country’s formal tourism transport system.
The debate follows a short-lived promotional alliance between Uber and our country brand esencial COSTA RICA. The agreement was announced in late May as a way to show visitors tourism content inside the Uber app and connect them with the Camino a Costa Rica portal. The campaign was presented as a way to reach travelers already moving through the country, including visitors in destinations such as La Fortuna, Monteverde, Tamarindo, Tortuguero, Puerto Viejo, Manuel Antonio, Santa Teresa and San José.
The initiative was canceled one day later after criticism from tourism transport operators. The backlash has now drawn a broader response from the Cámara Nacional de Turismo, known as Canatur, which says the issue goes beyond one company or one campaign.
Canatur said tourism promotion should be built around legal operation, formal business practices, transparency, fair competition and sustainability. The chamber said Costa Rica’s tourism industry has been built over decades by companies that meet institutional requirements, invest in quality and safety, train staff, generate formal employment, pay taxes and comply with public regulations.
For the chamber, promoting transportation apps without first resolving their regulatory status sends the wrong message to businesses that operate under official permits. Formal tourism transport companies must comply with municipal licenses, social security obligations, insurance, vehicle inspections, tourism certification, permits before the Public Transportation Council and tax requirements.
The criticism was backed by the Asociación de Transportistas de Turismo, which represents more than 80 tourism transport companies operating more than 500 vehicles. The group argued that transportation platforms create unfair competition because they do not face the same operating costs, oversight or legal requirements as formal tourism transport providers.
The dispute highlights a long-running contradiction in Costa Rica tourism. Visitors often use ride-sharing apps because they are familiar, easy to use, available in multiple languages and offer clear pricing through a phone. Uber has said more than 1.6 million tourists from more than 130 countries have used its platform to move around Costa Rica, including between airports, cities and major tourism destinations.
That popularity has made the apps part of the travel experience for many visitors, especially those arriving from the United States, Canada, Europe and Latin America. For tourists, the appeal is practical: they can open an app they already know, enter a destination and avoid negotiating prices or explaining routes in Spanish.
But for tourism operators, the issue is not convenience. It is regulation. Licensed tourism transport companies argue that Costa Rica cannot promote itself as a high-quality destination while giving visibility to mobility services that remain outside the same formal framework applied to buses, taxis and certified tourism transport providers.
Canatur said the same principle should apply across the tourism chain, including lodging, travel agencies, tour operators and other services. The chamber said it supports technology, innovation and strategic partnerships, but only when they do not create uncertainty or contradict the rules followed by formal businesses.
The case also raises questions for public institutions involved in Costa Rica’s international image. The esencial COSTA RICA brand is used to promote the country’s tourism, exports, investment and culture abroad. Because of that, tourism groups argue that any alliance tied to the brand carries more weight than an ordinary private marketing campaign.
Ride-sharing apps continue to be widely used in Costa Rica, especially in urban areas and major tourism corridors. The larger question is how our country will balance what tourists already do with the rules that govern formal transportation.
Costa Rica has discussed regulation of digital mobility platforms for years, but no lasting political solution has settled the dispute. Until that happens, tourism promotion involving ride-sharing apps will likely remain sensitive.
Canatur is calling for more coordination between public institutions, country brand managers and the organized tourism sector before launching campaigns tied to regulated activities. The chamber’s message is that Costa Rica can use technology to improve the visitor experience, but not in a way that leaves formal tourism businesses feeling sidelined.
The debate now sits at the center of a bigger tourism policy question: how Costa Rica should modernize visitor mobility without weakening the companies that have long operated under the country’s official tourism rules.
