Abstract: Twenty-two specific indicators were selected to construct the index system for assessing the performance of rural tourism poverty alleviation in Zhaosu County of Xinjiang from the three dimensions of economy, society and ecology. Hierarchical analysis was used to calculate the weights of the indicators, and the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method was used to quantitatively assess the performance of rural tourism poverty alleviation in Zhaosu County in combination with the questionnaire data. The results showed that the comprehensive performance of rural tourism poverty alleviation in Zhaosu County was at a medium level, with a score of 76.36. In each dimension, the performance of the economic dimension was at a high level, with a score of 80.50, ranking first. The performances of the ecological dimension and the social dimension were both at a medium level, with scores of 73.44 and 71.52 respectively. The overall performance score of Zhaosu County was low, and there was a lot of room for improvement and enhancement of the poverty alleviation work in rural tourism. In order to improve the performance of Zhaosu County’s tourism poverty alleviation and rural tourism poverty alleviation work, Zhaosu County should strengthen the government’s supervision and guidance, implement accurate and efficient assistance, broaden publicity channels to enhance the visibility of the local community, protect the traditional culture of the local community, create specialised tourism products, and adhere to the ecological protection and governance to promote the sustainable development of rural tourism.

Key words: rural tourism poverty alleviation, performance assessment, hierarchical analysis method, fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method, residents’ perception, post-poverty era, ethnic areas, Zhaosu County of Xinjiang