Travel expert Eoghan Corry says a holiday abroad is a changed thing in the face of COVID-19.
He recently flew to Malta, which is allowing flights in from Ireland.
The wearing of masks on planes is mandatory, while airports have social distancing measures in place.
He told The Pat Kenny Show: "I got on one of the first flights last Wednesday for a turnaround.
"Malta has no cases - it has 12 active cases, all of which are out of hospital - and it had a total of nine deaths since the beginning.
"They're not allowing flights in from Britain, for instance, because they regard them as too high a risk - but Ireland is OK.
"We arrived in, thermal measurement in the airport, there were teams of medics there.
"Somebody on our flight had a woolly hat on, which didn't allow the thermal measurement camera to read it and he was called aside.
"Waiters wearing masks, social distancing being practiced, everything up and running.
"And they are worried about importing cases - the same debate is there.
"They did feel the time is right to move; the economy is more dependent on tourism than ours.
"We have 10% of our GDP on tourism, there's is more than 25%.
"Similar sort of stuff in Spain: the whole thing of the crowded beaches - they've marked out beaches with squares, people have to book online [and] take their beach space.
"Wearing of masks, it depends on the region in Spain, but in lot of regions you're wearing a mask in the open".
"A lot of the early flights, Jonathan, have been people who are long-term residents who have houses down there.
"It's not the holiday as we used to know it, but it's certainly possible and doable.
"And as everybody feels their way, that's how it's going to work".
A man wearing a protective face mask swims in the Mediterranean Sea in Tel Aviv, Israel. Picture by: Oded Balilty/AP/Press Association Images"The market's ploughing ahead on the European directive, not on individual governments; some governments are slower than Ireland - Slovakia is also locked down.
"But we are very much at the back of the pack".
"What's happened is in the absence of any leadership from the Government, people are voting - people are actually travelling.
"The flights were put back in the air last Wednesday, according to the European safety standards, and Dublin was the 26th busiest airport in Europe yesterday.
"About 12,000 people going through the airport every day, down from over 100,000 at this stage of the year.
"People are doing what they have paid to do and are prepared to do".
The Government has said travel advice for Irish people is not changing until July 20th.
Currently, Irish citizens are advised against all but essential travel overseas due to the pandemic.
It comes after the EU published a list of third countries that were deemed safe to travel to.
However Ireland is not a party to the list as it is not a member of the Schengen area.
While the English government has named 59 countries deemed to have low rates of the virus.
But Ireland is already exempt from its isolation procedures as it is part of the Common Travel Area with the UK.
That list - complied by England without Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland - has created a row between devolved administrations there.
