BEIJING, July 18 (Reuters) - Chinese authorities will continue to monitor the trend of "irrational" overseas investments in the real estate, hospitality and film industries, a spokesman for the state planner said on Tuesday.

The Chinese government has cracked down on outbound investment by Chinese firms since late last year after accelerating capital outflows exacerbated depreciation of the yuan .

After rising 44 percent last year, outbound direct investment by Chinese firms fell 45 percent year-on-year in the first half of this year.

While Beijing says it supports legitimate overseas investment, regulators since late 2017 have warned against what they call irrational investments in certain sectors. (Reporting by Stella Qiu and Elias Glenn; Editing by Richard Borsuk)