Festival Drone Show: An Explosive Community Experience 2026

A festival drone show is a performance of 200–1,000+ drones that replaces or is combined with fireworks at sea festivals, cultural festivals and countdown events, with the advantages of absolute safety, reusable equipment and the ability to tell the story of local culture in light. From Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to the tourism provinces, authorities and festival organising committees have been shifting strongly towards this format in the 2025–2026 period. With direct experience of delivering the 500-drone Gia Lai, 700-drone Cần Thơ and 400-drone Đại Nam festival shows, Drone Xuân Air analyses in detail the suitable types of festival, the fleet sizes, the storyboard and the cooperation process in this article.

1. Which Festivals Should Use a Drone Show Instead of Fireworks?

The short answer: festivals held near residential areas or conservation areas, or which want to convey specific cultural content, should prioritise a drone show; festivals of pure explosive emotion can keep fireworks or combine both. This section compares the two formats head-on and explains the trend in choices.

1.1. Comparing drone shows and fireworks for public festivals

Three decisive differences: safety, reusability and the capacity for creative content. Fireworks burn single-use pyrotechnic powder, with smoke, dust and the risk of fire and explosion; a drone show consists of LED devices flying to a programme, reused for hundreds of shows and able to draw any image:

The upfront cost of a drone show is higher, but the entire duration of the performance is the festival's own content, a tourism communication value that fireworks cannot create.

1.2. The trend of provincial authorities choosing drone shows in 2025–2026

The wave began with major events: Hanoi staged 2,024 drones on Lunar New Year's Eve of the Year of the Dragon (Giáp Thìn) at West Lake, the Nha Trang Sea Festival 2023 used more than 1,650 drones, and the peak was the 10,500-drone performance in Ho Chi Minh City on April 30, 2025, which set a Guinness World Record. At the scale of annual festivals, the Cần Thơ River Culture Festival 2025 combined both a drone show and low-altitude fireworks (as reported by Tuổi Trẻ), a "hybrid" model being adopted by many provinces. The latest trend is pyro drones: according to Loon Eyes Studio, the recommended ratio is around 10% of the total formation carrying fire effects; a 500-drone show has ~50 pyro drones accentuating the climactic moments, keeping the "fireworks" feel within the safety framework of drones.

2. Top Types of Festival Suited to a Drone Show

Three groups of festivals benefit most from a drone show: summer sea festivals, cultural festivals and provincial anniversaries, and the series of New Year countdown events. Each group has its own storyboard logic and scale, designed by Xuân Air's drone show solutions according to the identity of each locality.

2.1. Sea festivals, summer festivals

Đà Nẵng, Nha Trang, Vũng Tàu and other coastal cities have the advantage of an ideal flight space: a wide sea surface, few obstacles, and light effects reflected on the water that double the visual impact. Suitable storyboards: sea waves, ocean creatures, and sailing boats transforming into the city's tourism symbols. Xuân Air's 500-drone show in Gia Lai welcoming the 2026 tourism season is an example of a provincial-level tourism festival using a drone show as the highlight opening the peak season.

2.2. Cultural festivals, provincial founding anniversaries

This is the group that brings out the storytelling power of a drone show most strongly: recreating local heritage, scenic sites and historical figures in light, content that every resident recognises and proudly shares. Xuân Air's 400-drone Spring Festival show at Đại Nam, Bình Dương in 2026, which formed peach blossoms and counted down to the new year, demonstrates the ability to localise the storyboard to regional culture.

2.3. Countdown festivals, New Year and Lunar New Year

Countdown is the "golden hour" of the drone show: tens of thousands of people gather, with every eye turned to the sky at the exact moment of transition. The Cần Thơ show welcoming the new year 2025, delivered by Xuân Air, used 700 synchronised drones in the sky above the Hậu River; the greatest technical challenge was force 4 river wind, handled with real-time RTK correction from the ground station.

3. Fleet Size and Storyboard of a Drone Show for Public Festivals

The drone fleet size determines the audience's range of view and the level of image detail; the bigger the festival crowd and the wider the space, the larger the formation must be. The reference framework below is distilled from the festival projects Xuân Air delivered in 2025–2026; see details at completed drone show projects.

Three storyboard principles for public festivals by Xuân Air's standard:

1. Open with a symbol everyone recognises: heritage, a mascot, the provincial map, creating a collective "ooh" within the first 30 seconds

2. The main body tells one single story: history, the tourism season or the festival's theme of the year, without cramming in too many messages

3. End with an interactive moment: a countdown, greetings, a QR code identifying the festival, held in the sky for 30–45 seconds for the audience to take photos

4. Cooperation Process with Authorities and Festival Drone Show Pricing

Public festivals have their own specifics: the date is fixed by the cultural calendar, approval from the People's Committee and the relevant departments is required, and a flight permit must be obtained from the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) and the Ministry of National Defence for airspace above large crowds. The total preparation time is a minimum of 8–10 weeks for a provincial-level festival.

The 5-step process Xuân Air applies for government partners and festival organising committees:

1. Receive the festival theme, survey the venue: assess the flight space and the orientation of the stands (3–5 days)

2. Propose the storyboard + cost estimate: a storyboard based on local identity, drone fleet size options (1 week)

3. Submit for approval, apply for the flight permit: CAAV and Ministry of National Defence applications and coordination with the People's Committee (3–5 weeks for mass-gathering events)

4. Programming, 3D simulation for approval and test flight: the organising committee approves each scene in advance (2 weeks)

5. Full rehearsal and official show flight: a crew of 8–12 technical personnel operating, with a weather contingency plan attached

Indicative budget based on a level of ~VND 20 million per drone (VnExpress): a 200–500 drone festival is around VND 4–8 billion; above 500 drones it depends on the complexity of the storyboard. Festival funding is usually raised through private sponsorship, with businesses sponsoring in exchange for the right to brand presence in scenes, a model that has been applied successfully in many provinces.

5. Frequently Asked Questions About Festival Drone Shows

Common queries from festival organising committees, departments of culture and sponsoring businesses.

What permits does a festival drone show need?

Three groups of procedures: the flight permit from the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam and the Ministry of National Defence for the specific coordinates and altitude, approval from the local People's Committee for organising a mass-gathering event, and a security and safety plan with the local police. Xuân Air handles the aviation procedures in full and coordinates with the organising committee on the rest.

With tens of thousands of people at the festival, is it safe for drones to fly?

It is safe when the standards are followed: the formation flies within the permitted zone, at a safe distance from the audience area, each drone has an emergency auto-landing mechanism and the crew monitors and can cut the connection to each device. The flight area and the audience area are always separated according to the plan approved with the authorities.

Can a drone show be combined with fireworks at the same festival?

Yes, the hybrid model is the trend: the drone show tells the story for 10–12 minutes and low-altitude fireworks accentuate the climactic moment, as at the Cần Thơ River Culture Festival 2025. There is also the pyro drone option (around 10% of the formation carrying fire effects), giving the feel of fireworks within the drone show itself.

How long does a festival show take to prepare?

A minimum of 8–10 weeks for a provincial-level festival, because the permit procedure for mass-gathering events takes 3–5 weeks. Major festivals at Tết, on April 30 or on National Day should start 3–4 months ahead, because they coincide with the nationwide permit peak.

Where does the funding for a festival drone show come from?

The most common source is private sponsorship: businesses sponsor all or part of the cost in exchange for scenes featuring brand presence in the show, a model that has been implemented at major festivals in Hanoi and many provinces. The organising committee can also combine this with the annual cultural events budget.

From how far away can residents watch a drone show?

A 500-drone show flying at an altitude of 100–120 m is clearly visible within a radius of 2–3 km; a show of 1,000+ drones is clearly visible up to 5 km away. A festival drone show therefore also serves audiences outside the main stage area, a far greater community value than an event within closed grounds.

6. Xuân Air Capability in Organising Provincial-Level and Festival Drone Shows

Xuân Air is a premium drone show company headquartered in Ho Chi Minh City with a verified portfolio of festival projects: 500 drones in Gia Lai to welcome the 2026 tourism season, 700 drones in Cần Thơ to welcome the new year 2025, and 400 drones at Đại Nam, Bình Dương for the 2026 Spring Festival, along with an ecosystem of brand partners (Vietcombank, Budweiser, Sapporo, Grab, Masan Group) for private sponsorship options. The Xuân Air team comprises in-house programming engineers, cultural storyboard specialists and an operating crew that has handled river-wind and sea-wind conditions on site.

A festival drone show does not merely replace fireworks; it elevates the festival from "a beautiful display" into a community cultural experience: safe for tens of thousands of spectators, able to tell the local story and creating a stream of shareable content that serves the province's tourism goals. Choosing the right fleet size for the festival level, a storyboard with one single story and starting the procedures 8–10 weeks ahead are the three keys to success. Xuân Air is ready to accompany organising committees in lighting up the festival sky of your locality.

Contact Xuân Air for a free storyboard consultation + detailed cost estimate:

• Hotline: +84 969 045 871

• Email: trung@xuanair.com

• Website: xuanair.com/contact