diff --git a/tests/unit_tests/test_mesh_to_vtk.py b/tests/unit_tests/test_mesh_to_vtk.py
index 451c869c2e..f651f5acb5 100644
--- a/tests/unit_tests/test_mesh_to_vtk.py
+++ b/tests/unit_tests/test_mesh_to_vtk.py
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 import numpy as np
 from pathlib import Path
 import pytest
-import vtk
+
+vtk = pytest.importorskip("vtk")
 from vtk.util import numpy_support as nps
 
 import openmc