Since the duty free exemptions were raised on June 1, overnight travel by Canadians to the U.S. has reached its highest level since record-keeping began, Statistics Canada reported Tuesday.

Bellingham merchants have noticed a significant increase since the rules changed, said Ken Opplinger, president and CEO of the Bellingham/Whatcom Chamber of Commerce.

In June, the duty-free limit increased to $200 from $50 on stays longer than 24 hours and to $800 from $400 for stays longer than 48 hours. Previously, a person who was away for seven days or more could bring back goods worth $750, duty-free. The limits for visits shorter than 24 hours and for alcohol and tobacco are unchanged.

It appears Canadians are embracing these new limits, especially since goods are often cheaper in the U.S. with the Canadian dollar at, or near, parity with the U.S. dollar. A BMO report released in May found the overall price gap is now 14 per cent, down from 20 per cent last year but still significant.

At the time the report was released, Doug Porter, deputy chief economist at the Bank of Montreal, said cross-border shopping may be costing the Canadian economy as much as $20 billion a year, and he predicted that the new duty-free limits would make the problem worse.

Statistics Canada’s first cross border travel report since the changes show that both overnight and same-day trips are up since June 1. In fact, Canadian residents took nearly 2.8 million overnight trips abroad in June, the highest monthly figure since record keeping began in 1972.

Overnight travel to the United States from B.C. rose 14 per cent in June 2012 compared to June 2011, while same-day travel to the U.S. rose 12.1 per cent, Statistics Canada analyst Frances Kremarik said in an email. The 424,203 overnight visits are also the highest since record-keeping began, while the 881,780 same-day visits are not an all-time high.

“The Statistics Canada numbers are the proof that’s in the pudding,” said Dave Wilkes, senior vice-president of the Retail Council of Canada, whose organization spoke out before the changes. “The numbers are telling the story that we were concerned about.”

The Retail Council of Canada expressed concerns around four key factors — tariffs, supply-managed products, harmonizing regulations and country pricing — that they say keep prices higher in Canada. Although there was no change to the duty-free allowance for same-day travel, Wilkes said consumers have changed their shopping habits nonetheless.

While American residents may be annoyed when Canadian shoppers crowd their Costco, as shown recently on a Facebook page, retailers in Bellingham have been able to withstand the economic downturn in their country better than their counterparts in other areas of Washington state.

Opplinger said Bellingham businesses — particularly grocery stores, gas stations, high-end clothing stores and electronics stores — have noticed a steady increase in Canadian customers since 2010 and a significant increase this summer.