Weak Canadian dollar didn't stop these southbound visitors this year

Despite a relatively weak Canadian dollar, Whatcom County continues to see plenty of Canadian visitors.

More than 5.3 million people have traveled southbound through the five Whatcom County border crossings in 2018 through May, according to data collected by Western Washington University's Border Policy Research Institute.

That's a 16 percent increase compared to the first five months of 2017. It's also the highest January-through-May total since 2014, when the Canadian dollar was at par with the U.S. dollar. Currently the Canadian dollar is around 75 cents compared to the U.S. dollar.