5. Several tourists are taking a boat ride, requiring the same number of people on each boat. If each boat carries 12 people, there is 1 person left unable to board; if one boat leaves empty, then all tourists can be evenly distributed among the remaining boats. It is known that each boat can hold a maximum of 15 people. Then the total number of tourists is ( ).
(A) 132
(B) 156
(C) 169
(D) 173
5.C.

Let there be $x$ boats initially, and after one empty boat leaves, the average number of tourists per boat is $y$. Thus, $12 x+1=(x-1) y$. Then $y=\frac{12 x+1}{x-1}=12+\frac{13}{x-1}$.
Since $y$ is a positive integer, $\frac{13}{x-1}$ must also be an integer.
Therefore, $x-1=1$ or $x-1=13$, which means $x=2$ or $x=14$.
When $x=2$, $y=25>15$, which does not meet the requirement;
When $x=14$, $y=13$, and the number of tourists is $(x-1) y=13 \times 13=169$.