The town was previously a village named Eksere in the district of Akseki and was renamed Gündoğmuş in 1936.

Today this is an impoverished rural district as the nearby Mediterranean coast has drawn away successive generations in search of jobs in the tourist industry.

The local economy depends on forestry, and money earned from seasonal jobs picking cotton or working in tourism in other parts of Turkey.

There is no industry and little agriculture on this steep hillside, although grazing animals and beekeeping are important sources of income.

[4] This area has been occupied since antiquity, and the site of the modern town of Gündoğmuş was settled by the ancient Romans.