diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 142af534f205db09a42df668048fdd04dce04d00..a634a261630a9faeea636339e4c2ecc56cc8ba26 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ before_script:
 unittests:
   stage: test
   script:
-    - export SKIP_TEST=True
+    - export SKIP_TEST="1"
     - tox -v -e pytest
 
 pypi_publish: