It is argued that the recent emphasis on applied social psychology offers new academic goals and novel professional opportunities for psychologists. One such area of applied social psychology, tourism research, is reviewed within this context. A widely scattered but identifiable literature was shown to exist. Interestingly, the existing tourism research, including some Australian material, was seen to emphasise longitudinal, emic, contextual and processual aspects of research. This may be seen as a healthy corrective to laboratory based approaches to social psychology. Further, it was argued that the professional possibilities for psychologists in the expanding tourist industry have scarcely been considered. Given the topic matter of much tourism research, the development of new professional roles for social psychology researchers would seem to be imminent.