Dynamic spillovers and portfolio optimization in tourism, Fintech, and cryptocurrency

This paper investigates the spillover dynamics, hedging and portfolio optimisation strategies among tourism, cryptocurrency, and Fintech markets within a time-varying connectedness framework, accounting for spillovers from traditional financial markets. Using daily return indices, we document significant heterogeneity in spillovers over time, with the COVID-19 period exhibiting the highest levels of interconnectedness. Traditional financial markets emerge as the dominant net transmitters of spillovers, followed by the Fintech sector, while the tourism market is predominantly a net receiver. Cryptocurrency assets, despite offering the least expensive hedge, are ineffective hedging instruments, whereas tourism assets offer the most cost-effective and efficient hedge for cryptocurrencies, albeit at elevated risk levels. While sectoral hedges are generally costlier and less effective due to strong co-movements, cross-sectoral hedges between Fintech and traditional financial markets were also expensive and ineffective. Our analysis further reveals that dynamic bilateral portfolio weight strategies consistently outperform dynamic hedge ratio strategies, with cryptocurrency assets driving superior portfolio returns. The minimum connectedness portfolio strategy, grounded in our framework, outperforms traditional minimum variance and correlation portfolio strategies, underscoring its relevance for optimizing risk-adjusted returns in dynamic markets.