(Machap Baru) The Machap Baru New Village residents cook a three-day feast to treat 2,500 Vietnamese tourists who are visiting Malacca.

Arranged by the Melaka Tourism in conjunction with the Visit Melaka Year 2024, the Vietnamese tourists were the second group of tourists visiting a Chinese New Village when they toured Malacca recently.

Machap Baru New Village head Tai Pek Guan said due to the large number of the entourage, they were divided into three groups to visit the new village in three separate days.

Villagers prepared popiah, char koay teow, ooffee, milk tea, roti kok, buns and some Malay delicacies for the tourists for three days which ended on 26 April.

A total of 920 Vietnamese savoured the delicacies on 22 April, followed by 600 the following day and 750 on 26 Apr.

A translator was present to assist the tourists with explanation of the various types of food.

The three-hour visit saw them taking photographs non-stop.

Tai said although the villagers were unable to communicate with the Vietnamese tourists, he could sense that many were excited.

Tai is glad that the Chinese new village has an opportunity to promote local food to foreign tourists.

“We get to promote Chinse new village to tourists and also contribute towards the Visit Melaka Year 2024,’’ he said.

Chinese New Village were resettlements set up between 1948 and 1960 during Emergency Period to prevent the communists from getting their supplies from villagers.

It is reported that there are a total of 420 Chinese villages in Malaysia and these villages are said to have potential for tourism industry.