Although great emphasis is given to service, quality and customer satisfaction issues and their link to the business performance in the tourism industry, it is surprising not to see a customer-oriented approach in the tourism value chain. von Friedrichs Gra¨ngsjo¨ (2003) emphasises the importance of destination networking and co-opetition (he means that competitors can both have a competitive and a co-operative relationship with one another at the same time)