2012 travel destinations and trends

The Olympics, the centennial of the Titanic sinking and increased reliance on technology and customization will all help shape travel in 2012.

Here are some details on these and other destinations and trends.

EVENTS

SUMMER OLYMPICS

They'll take place in London, July 27-Aug. 12. For those without tickets, Hyde Park and other places will host live broadcasts of the games on giant outdoor screens. A three-month arts festival beginning June 21 will add a cultural component, from Shakespeare to music to street performers.

Great Britain also will celebrate Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee June 2-5. She is only the second British monarch to mark 60 years on the throne.

TITANIC 100TH

The Titanic hit an iceberg and sank April 15, 1912, on its maiden voyage from England to New York. A variety of events in 2012 -- including some cruises -- will mark 100 years since the tragedy. The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax, Nova Scotia, offers an extensive permanent Titanic exhibit, but it also will be hosting special exhibits and events.

The Titanic was built in Belfast, in Northern Ireland, and an enormous waterfront development called Titanic Quarter is taking shape on the site of the former shipyard, with hotels, eateries, parks and theaters. Titanic Belfast, an ultramodern building, is set to open in April with Titanic-themed interactive exhibits. Southampton, England, which lost 549 locals when the ship went down, also is opening a new interactive museum, Sea City.

Far from those ports, the Titanic Pigeon Forge attraction in Tennessee is a half-scale, three-deck reproduction of the ship. A centennial tribute "Night to Remember" is planned for April 14.

THE NETHERLANDS

Floriade is a horticultural expo that takes place just once a decade. A 160-acre park with five different floral and nature themes opens April 5 and runs through Oct. 7, in Venlo, about 85 miles, or two hours by train, from Amsterdam (floriade.com).

BICENTENNIAL

In the United States, the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812 will be marked with tall ships, educational events and fireworks in several destinations, including June 6-12 in Norfolk, Va., and June 13-19 in Baltimore's Inner Harbor and the Chesapeake Bay.

DESTINATIONS

Croatia, Vietnam and Panama were named as "up and coming" destinations in an annual survey of 640 travel agents and owners from Travel Leaders.

The European Capitals of Culture for 2012 are Maribor, Slovenia, known for wines, a historic town center and nearby forests, waterfalls and moors; and Guimaraes, Portugal, known for goldsmithing, pottery and embroidery.

Arabella Bowen, executive director of editorial and content strategy at the travel guidebook publisher Fodor's, says both destinations are great values for food and hotels, with interesting attractions away from the crowds.

U.S. citizens can now travel to Cuba legally, even if they don't have relatives there, under new State Department regulations permitting certain types of trips. "Everyone wants to get in to see the country before everything changes," Bowen says.

But it hasn't been easy for tour companies to meet the standards, which require itineraries to have a religious, humanitarian or educational purpose. Some Cuba trips -- including Abercrombie & Kent's -- have been canceled or postponed.

TECHNOLOGY

APPS

Ad agency JWT's travel trend list for 2012 mentions apps like Uber, a cab-dispatching service; Postagram, which turns snapshots into postcards; and Vocre, an app that translates spoken words into other languages. Another new app, Wenzani, takes content from Lonely Planet, Frommer's and DK guidebooks and integrates it with advice from your friends and social networks.

GUIDES

Frommer's has just introduced customized printed travel guides called Frommer's Remix that combine personal itineraries and preferences with advice from Frommer's experts. You can design and order a Remix for more than 30 destinations ($20, frommersremix.com). Remix also comes with coupons geared to your itinerary.

Other predictions from JWT: "Peer to peer" experiences will grow, with local independent guides offering niche tours through websites like Vayable, SideTour and Shiroube. And the trend of renting private residences from sites like Airbnb will get a new twist from Campinmygarden.com, where people rent out their backyards as inexpensive campsites.