Abstract: Scientific identification of rural tourism competitiveness lays the foundation for formulating county-level tourism plans and acts as a pivotal mechanism for advancing high-quality rural tourism development and implementing rural revitalization strategies. This study, focusing on Suichang County in Lishui City, Zhejiang Province, constructs a natural-village-scale evaluation index system for rural tourism competitiveness across four dimensions: resource endowment, natural environment, socioeconomic factors, and geographical accessibility. Leveraging field survey data, government department data, and multi-source online data, we apply an improved projection pursuit model and spatial autocorrelation analysis to quantitatively evaluate the rural tourism competitiveness and spatial clustering patterns of natural villages in Suichang County. Based on these analyses, we propose targeted development recommendations for Suichang's rural tourism sector, aiming to provide actionable insights for fostering high-quality rural tourism growth and deepening rural revitalization strategies both within Suichang County and across other county-level regions.