diff --git a/MANIFEST.in b/MANIFEST.in
index ca9ecbd5bf..1328f20ea6 100644
--- a/MANIFEST.in
+++ b/MANIFEST.in
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ include requirements.txt
 include requirements-dev.txt
 include tox.ini
 include *.md
-recursive-include tests *
+recursive-exclude tests *
 global-exclude *.pyc
 global-exclude *.pyo
 global-exclude *.un~