diff --git a/pandas/tests/io/test_excel.py b/pandas/tests/io/test_excel.py
index ebb8424b78ed4..4c790a0f0f64a 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/io/test_excel.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/io/test_excel.py
@@ -968,6 +968,7 @@ def test_read_excel_chunksize(self):
     def test_read_excel_parse_dates(self):
         # GH 11544, 12051
         _skip_if_no_openpyxl()
+        _skip_if_no_xlwt()  # for df2.to_excel
 
         df = DataFrame(
             {'col': [1, 2, 3],