Postponement of Korea Vape Show 2024: Reasons and Impact

On May 6th, 2FIRSTS learned from the official website of the KOVAS exhibition in South Korea that the KOREA VAPE SHOW 2024 (or "KOVAS2024") exhibition will be postponed to the second half of the year. The organizer, The Fairs, did not disclose the reason for the postponement in the announcement. However, the exhibition faced opposition from health regulatory authorities and anti-smoking organizations in 2023. At that time, the venue and organizers argued that their cooperation was not illegal, so the exhibition proceeded as scheduled. The venue later announced that they would no longer collaborate with this type of exhibition, prompting a change in venue for this year's event.

Postponed Trade Show

When visiting the official website of KOREA VAPE SHOW, a yellow background pop-up notice catches the eye. The content of the notice is translated as follows:

The KOREA VAPE SHOW 2024 has been rescheduled to take place in the second half of the year.

We apologize for the unexpected decision.

We will release the schedule again at a later time.

According to reports, the organizers of KOVAS2024 are The Fairs and KVA. 2FIRSTS attempted to visit the official website of The Fairs but found it to be inaccessible. The news section of the KOVAS2024 e-cigarette exhibition official website is stuck in July 2023, and the latest post on their Instagram account is from January 3, 2024.

2FIRSTS obtained a specific letter from the organizers, The Fairs, explaining the reason for the postponement. The letter, titled "Postponement of Korea Vape Show 2024," was signed by the CEO of The Fairs, Zhang Zaihe. In the letter, it was mentioned that the city government of Suwon, where the exhibition was scheduled to take place, requested the postponement due to the upcoming national parliamentary elections. The government wanted to avoid holding the exhibition during the election period.

To all of you: I regret to say this, but our final decision is to postpone KOVAS 24. KOVAS 24 was

supposed to be held at the SUWON MESSE from May 17 to 19, 2024, but we have encountered

irresistible situation. South Korea has a parliamentary election in April. It is the largest national

election held every four years. Because KOVAS will be held in May, we have been preparing a

large-scale promotional activities. In this process, Suwon City Hall, where the exhibition is held,

has requested us to postpone our exhibition. Since tobacco is still perceived negatively in Korea,

they asked us to avoid the exhibition when elections are held and when lawmakers are elected.

Tobacco is a sensitive issue for the government, so we have finally decided to postpone it. Maybe

we need to change the schedule to the second half of the year. Once again, We I apologize for 

the sudden notice. We will confirm the schedule as soon as possible and let you know.

Attack from Anti-smoking Organization and Health Department

This is not the first controversy surrounding the Korea Vape Show e-cigarette exhibition. The organizer, The Fairs, has been in discussions with health authorities and smoking cessation organizations regarding the nature of the e-cigarette exhibition. Last year, well-known brands such as HQD, ELFBAR, SMOK, GEEKVAPE, SMISS, Aspire, INNOKIN, ELUX, and others announced their participation in the exhibition, which was marked by its tumultuous organization process.

The Korean newspaper "The National Daily" pointed out that the Korea Vape Show has been held at KINTEX in Goyang city for four consecutive years, but every time it is held, attention is drawn to behaviors such as indoor smoking, lax enforcement of entry procedures for minors, violations of e-cigarette regulations, and advertising of e-liquids.

According to the South Korean newspaper "Chosun Ilbo," in July 2023, the South Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare sent a formal letter to the organizers of the "Korea Vape Show 2023" scheduled to be held at KINTEX in Goyang City, demanding that the event be canceled. The ministry stated that the event's display of e-cigarettes in public places violated relevant regulations.

In response to concerns about the potential negative effects of the "Korea e-cigarette Expo 2023," the exhibition center KINTEX stated that they will closely collaborate with relevant departments and organizations to conduct strict inspection and management of the exhibition.

Lee Jae-yul, who was the CEO of KINTEX at the time, stated that the company will conduct strict inspections of event content before renting out exhibition halls in the future. After careful consideration, the company will proceed with the events. Additionally, KINTEX has implemented internal regulations starting from next year to no longer rent out to such events.

This may also explain why the trade show was moved from Goyang City to Suwon City. Geographically, Suwon City and Goyang City are not far apart, both belonging to the Gyeonggi Province administrative region. The driving distance is only 2 hours, with Suwon City located on the south side of Seoul and Goyang City on the north side.

However, some media outlets have pointed out that certain measures promised by the exhibition venues for 2023 are not comprehensive enough. Despite double identity verification at the entrance to prevent minors from entering, it has not been possible to completely avoid situations where minors attend nearby activities.

As we enter into this year, despite the organizers selecting the private exhibition hall Suwon Exhibition Hall as the venue for this year's event. After the announcement, officials from eight related departments in Korea, including the Korea Health Promotion Institute, Gyeonggi Province, the Gwonseon-gu Smoking Cessation Support Center, the Gyeonggi Southern Smoking Cessation Support Center, the National Health Insurance Corporation Incheon-Gyeonggi Regional Headquarters, and the Suwon Office of Education, have come together to discuss response measures. According to the latest news, the head of the Korea Institute for Health Promotion and Development stated:

Various organizations have been actively responding to the situation, resulting in the event not being able to take place in May. However, as it has not been completely cancelled, but rather postponed to the second half of the year, we plan to continue with the event. This is to monitor whether the event will take place in the future.

2FIRSTS had communicated with The Fairs via email regarding the postponement of the event, but had not received a response as of the time of writing.

Market is Increasingly Favoring Heated Tobacco Products

In fact, the use of vapor e-cigarettes among South Korean smokers is not common, and the mainstream alternative tobacco products in this market are heated tobacco products led by Lil and IQOS.

In September 2023, 2FIRSTS visited the offline e-cigarette market in Seoul, South Korea, and conducted field visits to more than twenty convenience stores in the central area of Seoul, including well-known chain convenience store brands such as 7-11, CU, and GS25. It was found that almost all convenience stores sold cigarettes and heated non-combustible products (THP), but most stores did not carry vapor e-cigarette products (Vape).

Data from the Korea Tobacco Control Research & Education Center shows that from 2017 to 2022, the sales volume of heated non-combustible cigarette pods in South Korea increased by 6.8 times, from 78.7 million packs to 538.6 million packs. It was expected that the sales volume for the entire year of 2023 would exceed 600 million packs for the first time. Among them, Lil from the local Korean company KT&G accounted for about 48% of the market share, IQOS from PMI accounted for 42%, and Glo from BAT accounted for 10%.

According to insiders in the South Korean tobacco industry, disposable and other vapor e-cigarette products in the country underwent significant market changes in 2019. That year, due to a severe lung disease outbreak among teenagers in the United States, the South Korean government issued a "strong recommendation to stop using vapor e-cigarettes," especially advising children, adolescents, pregnant women, people with respiratory diseases, and non-smokers not to use vapor e-cigarettes.

In a report by the South Korean Economic News, citing third-party data, it was stated that in 2020, one year after the government's recommendation to stop using vapor e-cigarettes, the sales volume of vapor e-cigarettes plummeted by 97.6% compared to the previous year, and the market for these products almost disappeared in South Korea.

At that time, 2FIRSTS learned from a local source in South Korea that the regulation of e-cigarettes in the country is very strict. The "government directive" in 2019 resulted in vapor e-cigarettes being completely removed from convenience stores, and to this day, these chain convenience stores do not sell vapor e-cigarettes. In addition, the person also mentioned that it is also very difficult to bring in e-cigarettes through "special means," as the government's enforcement is very strict.