diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 9944c152b..dd5aded85 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ env:
    - CCACHE_TEMPDIR=/tmp/.ccache-temp
    - CCACHE_COMPRESS=1
    - PREFIX=/tmp/mapnik
+   - PYTHON=python3
    - secure: "F6ivqDNMBQQnrDGA9+7IX+GDswuIqQQd7YPJdQqa2Ked9jddAQDeJClb05ig3JlwfOlYLGZOd43ZX0pKuMtI2Gbkwz211agGP9S3YunwlRg8iWtJlO5kYFUdKCmJNhjg4icfkGELCgwXn+zuEWFSLpkPcjqAFKFlQrIJeAJJgKM="
 
 cache:
diff --git a/scripts/travis-common.sh b/scripts/travis-common.sh
index 89ca9f1ed..00c3bd6c7 100644
--- a/scripts/travis-common.sh
+++ b/scripts/travis-common.sh
@@ -77,11 +77,11 @@ config_override () {
 
 configure () {
     if enabled ${COVERAGE}; then
-        PYTHON=python3 ./configure "PREFIX=$PREFIX" "CUSTOM_LDFLAGS=$LINKFLAGS" "$@" \
+        ./configure "PREFIX=$PREFIX" "CUSTOM_LDFLAGS=$LINKFLAGS" "$@" \
                     COVERAGE=True DEBUG=True \
                     PGSQL2SQLITE=False SVG2PNG=False SVG_RENDERER=False
     else
-        PYTHON=python3 ./configure "PREFIX=$PREFIX" "CUSTOM_LDFLAGS=$LINKFLAGS" "$@"
+        ./configure "PREFIX=$PREFIX" "CUSTOM_LDFLAGS=$LINKFLAGS" "$@"
     fi
     # print final config values, sorted and indented
     sort -sk1,1 ./config.py | sed -e 's/^/	/'