The Tourists (1976–1980) were a British rock and pop band. They achieved brief success in the late 1970s before the band split in 1980.

 

Peet Coombes was a guitarist singer-songwriter, while Dave Stewart, also a guitarist, had been a member of the folk rock band Longdancer, who were signed to Elton John's Rocket label. The two moved to London and encountered Scottish singer Annie Lennox who had dropped out of her course at the Royal Academy of Music to pursue her ambitions in pop music.

 

Forming a band in 1976, the three of them initially called themselves The Catch, and released a single "Borderline/Black Blood" in 1977 on Logo Records. By 1976, they had recruited bass guitarist Eddie Chin and drummer Jim Toomey, and renamed themselves The Tourists. This saw the beginning of a productive period for the band and they released three albums: The Tourists (1979), Reality Effect (1979) and Luminous Basement (1980), as well as half a dozen singles, including "Blind Among the Flowers" (1979), "The Loneliest Man in the World" (1979), "Don't Say I Told You So" (1980) and two hits, the Dusty Springfield cover "I Only Want to Be with You" (1979) and "So Good to Be Back Home Again" (1980), both of which reached the top 10 in the UK.

 

In 1980, the band signed to RCA Records. They toured extensively in the UK and abroad, including as support for Roxy Music on their 1979 Manifesto Tour. 

The group disbanded in late 1980.

 

Two of its members, singer Annie Lennox and guitarist Dave Stewart, went on to international success as Eurythmics.