On a warm spring evening along the banks of the Han River, thousands of spectators held up their smartphones as 1,000 synchronized drones rose into the dark, forming the glowing, red-bladed silhouette of a Darth Vader lightsaber. The spectacle drew gasps from the crowd on the riverbank, but its true reach extended far beyond Seoul: a video of the May performance generated over 770,000 views on YouTube, with 93 percent of the audience watching from overseas — led by viewers in the United States. What began as an experimental municipal light show is rapidly transforming into one of Asia’s most lucrative night-tourism franchises. The Seoul Metropolitan Government officials said Tuesday that the first five shows of the 2026 Han River Light Performance drew a total of 125,358 visitors — nearly doubling average foot traffic along the waterfront on show nights. More importantly for city planners, the aerial spectacles are drawing heavy international spending. Foreign tourists accounted for over a third, or 34.6 percent, of all attendees in the first half of the year, with foreign national