Experts question Ajman Sunshine Mall claims of welcoming 500 million visitors so far in 2013

AJMAN: Regional auditors have called into question recent claims made by the management of the Ajman Sunshine Shopping Mall regarding its customer numbers in 2013.

In a press announced released last week, the UAE shopping centre revealed that this year had seen “a record of almost 500 million shoppers pass through its doors so far this year”, a figure subsequently published in several regional newspapers.

But yesterday, authorities said they were now looking into the claims following a report from a local statistics office that said it would have been “physically impossible” for the relatively small mall – big enough for just one small supermarket, a dry cleaners and six branches of Massimo Dutti – to have had so many visitors.

“We believe the Ajman Sunshine Mall may have adopted the popular tactic of employing teams of people to go round and round the revolving doors 24 hours a day to boost the numbers,” said one of the researchers. “We’ve seen this sort of thing done many times across the region.”