This study adopts a gravitational centre model in examining the relationships between China’s outbound tourism flows to the ASEAN and the ASEAN inbound tourism flows/international tourism receipts from 2002 to 2016. The results reveal there are spatiotemporal differences between the gravitational centres of China’s outbound tourism flows to the ASEAN and the ASEAN inbound tourism flows; the results suggest that Chinese tourists to the ASEAN prefer different destinations from other international visitors. Spatiotemporal differences also exist between the gravitational centres of China’s outbound tourism flows and international tourism receipts in the ASEAN, which indirectly indicates that China’s outbound tourism flows have no obvious effect on total international tourism receipts in the ASEAN. Additionally, the effects are not the same across countries in the ASEAN. The results will have important practical significance for tourism economic development in the ASEAN and strengthening China-ASEAN tourism friendly cooperation.