The "one-visit-a-week" policy aimed at limiting the travel of Shenzhen parallel goods traders to Hong Kong took effect on Monday, but its effect will only be felt after some time, Hong Kong's chief executive announced Monday.

"Public security authorities have suspended the previous multiple-entry scheme from today and started issuing the new 'one-visit-a-week' permit to new applicants," chief executive Leung Chun-ying said at a press conference.

"The new policy hopes to reduce the number of parallel goods traders," he said, adding that it will only apply to new applicants.

Leung also said the new policy would reduce the number of annual visitors to Hong Kong by about 4.6 million, the 2014 figure of people who visited the city more than once a week.

The Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council said the central government will continue to support Hong Kong tourism and oppose behavior that harms relations between the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong.

A Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Research report said the new policy will result in a 2.3 percent hit to Hong Kong's retail sales growth this year, according to the South China Morning Post. However, the report pointed out that the amount spent per trip may rise despite the drop in the number of trips to Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, a new trend of parallel goods trading to counter the policy has emerged.

Advertisements recruiting Hong Kong residents to work as parallel goods traders were found on Facebook Sunday. Each worker will be paid HK$ 600 ($77) a day and guaranteed stable work. Many have provided their contact information to apply for the job.

"The new policy only limits Shenzhen residents but not Hongkongers," a Shenzhen trader told the Global Times.

She said it is inevitable that those involved in the parallel goods trade will rely on Hong Kong residents in the future when the multiple-entry permit expired, adding that service charges to customers may increase due to the cost of recruiting Hongkongers.

Hong Kong's Secretary for Security Lai Tung-kwok previously estimated that half of the traders may be local residents.

Some Shenzhen families also expressed concern over the impact on picking up children who study in Hong Kong.

However, legislators said that the new policy will not affect non-Hong Kong residents' parents whose children were born in Hong Kong and businessmen who frequently have to travel between Shenzhen and Hong Kong. "For people who have special needs, they can apply for a different type of permit," Michael Tien Puk-sun, a National People's Congress delegate as well as a Hong Kong legislator, said.