I spoke to Krolow about the current state of the industry, as well as why the idea of owning an island is so appealing. The interview that follows has been edited and condensed for the sake of clarity.

Joe Pinsker: How is the private-island industry doing now? How did it fare during the downturn?

Chris Krolow: During the economic downturn, everything had sort of halted. There were very few sales during the economic crisis. Over the last few years especially, we've definitely seen a resurgence in sales and inquiries. But the recession hit us pretty hard.

Pinsker: How was it in the early-to-mid 2000s?

Krolow: The market really only started when we amalgamated all our listings on our website. That's when the market really took off. I would say the private island market didn't really exist until before 1999.

Pinsker: Are you saying that the Internet played a big role in getting the industry to coalesce?

Krolow: Absolutely. When we started in 1999, there was a handful of brokers that had a listing here or there, so there really wasn't a market, per se. There're two kinds of markets. There's a local market and there's an international market. And islands in local markets, they're obviously more sought after by people who actually live there and know the area. International markets—that's where it didn't really exist before. A lot of people didn't have a reason to look into what the chances were of owning an island, let's say, in Asia, or in the South Pacific. They were just told, "Oh, foreigners can't own islands."

Without the Internet, there would be no market. People aren't looking for an island in a particular location all the time. They think they are at first, perhaps. But when they learn about our company, and they start to investigate, usually their criteria change, like, "I don't want to spend more than four hours getting to my island, or six hours getting to my island." So someone from the States might be open to an island in Canada. They could be open to the Bahamas. And now they've got direct flights from L.A. to Fiji, overnight flights. You could be on your own island in 14 hours and not even realize. You take a sleeping pill. Boom—next thing, you're in your helicopter and you're a mile away—so the world has become a lot smaller.

Pinsker: What do you think of how private islands are portrayed by the media? What are the press's biggest misconceptions?

Krolow: I find it hilarious that the press is always talking about celebrity-owned islands. And you know what, there's just really not very many celebrities that own islands. And most of them that were, were trying to sell them. It's just something that adds to the whole allure of owning an island. The press is talking about Richard Branson, David Copperfield—the same names that come up over and over and over again.