Arrivals from the likes of Scandinavia, Hungary and Poland have helped plug the gap and the country is also expecting a boost from further afield the start of flights from China and the USA.

Russian outbound travel has subsided in the wake of the collapse of the Russian ruble.

“The Russian numbers are not the same because of the economic situation there that’s why we are working on to increase the number of direct flights from Europe and it’s been a big success this year," said Amir Halevi, director general of the Israel ministry of tourism.

The Red Sea resort city of Eilat has gone from four to 20 flights and at the start of 2017 will be able to boast a new airport.

The country has also been boosted by Monarch Airlines’ recent decision to start two new scheduled routes to Israel from Luton airport.  The airline will start flying to Tel Aviv (Ben Gurion Airport) and Ovda Airport (50km north-west of Eilat) in December 2015.  

In July Ryanair announced its first Israeli flights, with three new routes at Eilat Ovda Airport to Budapest, Kaunas and Krakow starting this month.

Halevi said Israel would also look to push the desert as a tourist destination with the hope of attracting adventure travellers keen on hiking.

“The desert is a very ready for tourism,” he said.

Halevi also played down any security concerns.

“There can be a terrorism attacks everywhere. In Israel it’s very safe.”

The country is also set to see a boost from the decision to hold next year’s ITT conference in Tel Aviv.