diff --git a/travis/before_install.sh b/travis/before_install.sh
index 0d4d8a5df62..5775915e1a2 100644
--- a/travis/before_install.sh
+++ b/travis/before_install.sh
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 if [[ $SETUP_CMD == *coverage* ]]; then
     conda install -c conda-forge git-lfs=2.2.1 -y
     git lfs install --skip-smudge
-    if [ ! -d "$HOME/tardis-refdata" ]; then
+    if [ ! "$(ls -A $HOME/tardis-refdata)" ]; then
         git clone $TARDIS_REF_DATA_URL $HOME/tardis-refdata
     fi
     cd $HOME/tardis-refdata