The PCA 2020 Convention & Trade Show, the cigar industry’s most important event on the calendar, has been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Formerly called the the IPCPR Convention & Trade Show, the event was scheduled to take place July 10-14 at the Sands Expo Center at The Venetian in Las Vegas.
After months of public statements that the trade show would go on, the organization has decided to cancel the event, according to a story by Charlie Minato of Halfwheel. Last week, multiple manufacturers indicated they had been informed by the organization that its intent was to cancel the event this week, less than 60 days before the start of the trade show.
“After much deliberation and careful discussions of every aspect of our annual convention and trade show, the PCA Board and the Associate Member Advisory Board have made the difficult decision to cancel our current event scheduled for July,” said Pearce in a press release. “The annual event is an important fixture in the premium tobacco industry, and we were very excited to bring a whole new experience to the industry this year. However, the public health and safety of our attendees, staff and volunteers outweighed any other considerations in our collective decision-making process.
“We understand how important this event is to the business needs of both our manufacturers and our retailers, so we are redoubling our efforts to create innovative new ways to aid our members this year.”
The organization said it will release further details about those programs in “the coming weeks.”