It’s official. Chicago did not win its bid to host the Summer 2016 Olympic Games. The bid went to Rio de Janeiro instead, the first-ever Olympiad awarded to a South American country. The disappointment over the Windy City loss reaches all the way up to the White House.

Maybe it will serve as a lesson to President Obama, who clearly understands the importance of tourism and meetings despite some comments he made early in his tenure when everyone was jumping on the reported extravagance of corporate travel and meetings. He and the first lady traveled to Copenhagen to pitch Chicago to the International Olympic Committee. The “Meetings Mean Business” campaign of the travel and meetings industry hit home this time.

In fact, news reports that followed certainly were a good example of the ripple effects of travel and events. Nearby Milwaukee and the state of Wisconsin were gearing up for a boon in tourism, especially since some Olympic trials would have been held in Madison. Down river, the president and chief executive director of the Quad-Cities CVB (Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa, and Moline, East Moline and Rock Island, Ill.) weighed in. “The Quad-Cities CVB is disappointed that the great efforts put forth by the city of Chicago and the Chicago 2016 organizing committee were not rewarded, but the Quad-Cities CVB continues to market the Quad-Cities in the global marketplace,” said Joe Taylor, speaking to the Quad-City Times.

Taylor also said that the area hosts international travel writers regularly and that CVB representatives attend POW WOW, an international travel trade show held each year in the U.S. for group tour leaders. “We will continue to work to bring conventions and sporting events to the Quad-Cities, which attract international participants — like International Softball Congress, National Trails Symposium and more.”

Maybe President Obama should talk with him.