is automated data movement via Excel considered ETL?
The process you describe is very extremely techinically ETL, though if I were reviewing qualifications with a candidate during an interview for a position that required what I usually think of as ETL experience and they described the process you mention as the "ETL" process they were familiar with, it's very likely that the interview would end politely and quickly.

It would be much better to describe this experience in terms of what it unambiguously is- VBA and advanced Excel skills are very valuable. You could call it "data preparation and processing using VBA and Excel," for example. 

Calling these processes "ETL" experience is asking for trouble when an employer is looking for experience in one of the formal ETL tools or methodologies is unhappily suprised by the distinction.