Macau, China, 25 Feb – In 2008 Macau was visited by 22.9 million people rather than by 30.18 million as previously announced, according to new rules for counting visitors announced Tuesday by Macau’s Statistics and Census Bureau.

The new rules, which have already been put into effect for the January figures, exclude entries into Macau by non-resident workers, students and other paid workers from tourist entry figures, according to a statement from the Bureau.

Of the more than 30 million visitors previously announced, 7.2 million people were non-resident students or workers according with a report by MacauNews agency.

In January, 2.4 million people entered Macau, of which only 1.9 million were visitors, a slight rise of 0.8 percent on the same month of 2008. (macauhub)